


Wonderland

by Inumaru12



Series: Wonderland AU [1]
Category: Gravity Falls
Genre: AU, Big Age gap between Dipper and Bill, Bill is a horrible demon and should not be trusted, Bill is a manipulative fuck, BillDip, Blood, Body Horror, Changed to M for violence and heavy plot stuff not for sexual, Character Death, Dark, Death, Emotional Manipulation, M/M, Mentions of sexual things, On hiatus atm, Pedophilia, Sad, Shota, Slow Burn, Suggestive Themes, There are no sexual stuff besides some jokes, Toxic Relationships, lots and lots of stuff, maybe someday i'll post something about what was supposed to happened, or even write another chapter but i dunno, some sad and lonely preteen boy, that ship name sounds too funny to me though, this is prob like 99.9 percent abandoned, very plot heavy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-08-07
Updated: 2015-03-25
Packaged: 2017-12-22 17:30:36
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 7
Words: 62,203
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/916052
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Inumaru12/pseuds/Inumaru12
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dipper was lonely sometimes.  Mabel had her friends, Wendy and Soos had their own lives, Grunkle Stan teased him and never believed him about anything supernatural.  Dipper wished that there was someone he could talk to about his adventures or just have a friend in general.  Then he meets a man named Bill who believes him and everything about him is wonderful and very quickly Dipper finds himself falling down into a dark wonderland.</p><p> </p><p>THIS IS AU-ISH: This story takes place a bit before Boss Mabel, and then goes a bit AU from after that until it will completely diverge from the canon plot line.</p><p>ALSO: I'll probably change the rating as I get farther along.  I'm just not sure at the point how rating wise this will go.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Who Said I Was Lonely (Okay, Maybe A Little)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dipper feels a bit lonely and wanders into a nice book and cafe store. There he meets a man who he soon won't forget.

All his life, Dipper has had a friend by his side. He was lucky to be born with a twin sister and the two of them grew up together being friends. As they got older and attended school, they became closer because they were still each other’s only friends.  
Girls thought Mabel was weird so they didn’t include her in anything of their own and boys thought Dipper was strange for spending so much time with a girl and being more interested in books then sports. So for years, they spend time just together as friends. 

In hope to get them out more and maybe make friends with other people, their parents sent them to live with their “Grunkle” Stan for the summer. It worked out for the best; Mabel got two new best friends in Grenda and Candy along with becoming friends with Soos and Wendy. Dipper, while friends with Soos and having a huge crush on Wendy, didn’t have any friends with anyone his own age.

It was one of those days were Mabel was spending the day with her friends and everyone else was incredibly busy. Dipper was able to slip out of the Mystery Shack before Stan could make him work or give him some humiliating or meaningless chore to do (or both).

Walking around town, the young boy felt bored and a little sad. He wished he had something to do, or at least something to take his mind off of his loneliness. Dipper wished he had some friends his own age, beside Mabel of course, but preferably male. He could only take so much of his sister’s friends while they giggled about boys and boy bands and who actors were cute and other stuff that was rather gross to him.

Dipper turned a corner and happened to look around to see where he was. He wasn’t sure where he was exactly but a rather large metal sign with a coffee cup sitting on top of a pile of books with the name “Alice’s Café and Bookstore” hung from above a door. Feeling his curiosity being peaked, Dipper opened the door and stepped inside.

The smell of coffee, sweet bread, and books hit Dipper just as he walked in and it made him smile fondly.

“Hello there!” A voice from behind the counter called cheerfully.

 

Looking up, Dipper found an old woman beaming down at him. 

 

“I don’t see many people your age in here; especially in the summer!” The woman, presumably Alice, had long grey hair pulled back into a high raised ponytail. She wore a purple dress with a simple black belt and a light shawl around her shoulders. Her face had many smile lines on her face and she had gentle and dulling blue eyes. “Welcome to my little book and café shop! I’m Alice.”

The old woman held her hand out and Dipper shook it politely.

“Hi, I’m Dipper Pines, and yes, I’m related to Stan Pines.” Dipper added the second part seeing Alice’s questioning look. Besides, he always got that question.

The store owner smiled and chuckled a bit. “Alright then. Well, feel free to make your way around and if you get hungry, first time visitors get a free purchase from the café!” The woman winked playfully and Dipper grinned back.

“Wow! Thank you!” The young boy turned and headed towards the rows of books, just taking in all the books. Honestly, he got kind of bored looking at some of the more adult related books and the kids section was nothing too interesting, but what really caught his eye was the history section (though he paused momentarily at the mystery section). Hoping to maybe get more information about Gravity Falls, Dipper hurried towards it, excited. Suddenly someone came around one of the corners, Dipper hadn’t even seen them, and nearly bumped into the young boy.

 

“Sorry!” Dipper hastily apologized and waved slightly as he turned his head but the other person didn’t seem to care in the slightest as they continued turn the corner into another aisle of bookcases. Dipper has just caught the sight of darkish golden hair and black clothes as they quickly turned. Shrugging to himself, Dipper continued and looked at the book case that was labeled “Town History” with a grin. That grin though soon slid off his face as he was the mostly bare shelves.

 

“What?” He mumbled to himself. “Why is there so little?”

 

Dipper continued to search, going through books and frowning as he came to the realization that most of the books were saying the same things and not really speaking about anything else. It was just dates of when the town was created and the creator, who Dipper knew wasn’t actually the founder of Gravity Falls.

 

“What the heck? Why is there so little info on the town’s history?” Dipper wondered aloud. Putting the book back where he got it, Dipper made his way back up front. He found Alice putting a new pot of coffee on and cleared his throat. When that didn’t get her attention he called out.

 

“Excuse me, ma’am?”

 

The shop owner turned around and smiled at him. 

 

“Hey there little man; you ready for that snack? And just call me Alice dearie, everyone does!”

 

“No, I just wondering why there is so little in the town history section? I mean, Gravity Falls is so big and interesting; there has to be more than just a couple of books right?”

 

Alice’s face turned dark for a second before the smile returned, although it seemed more strained then the casual and warm smile from before.

 

“Ah, well, the town council has started banning books they find ‘not appropriate for children’.” Alice spoke with distaste as he even did the finger quotes. She paused when she saw Dipper staring at her. “Oh, is that not cool to do anymore?” She continued to make the finger quotes gesture with a grin. “Look, they look like bunny rabbits!”  
Shaking his head a bit, Dipper was reminded of Mabel and it made him briefly wonder if Mabel would still be like that when she was that old. Dipper shook his head of those thoughts and tried again to get Alice’s attention.

 

“But how could they ban history books? Especially history of this town? I mean, they have founder’s day, but I can’t really find anything else!”

 

“Oh look! My cookies are done! How do you like chocolate chip? Here, try one!” Alice said, obviously ignoring his questions as she pulled steaming tray of cookies from the oven. Using a spatula, Alice quickly grabbed one of the oven hot cookies and shoving it in Dipper’s mouth.

 

“No I don-MMPH!” The cookie muffled Dipper’s scream as the cookie was much too hot. Forcing himself to choke it down, the boy grabbed the glass of milk that Alice had just set down for him and chugged it to cool his mouth and throat down. Coughing horribly, he looked at Alice and was about to demand why she had just done that when the said lady turned him around and pushed him back towards the books.

 

“Okay, you’ve had your snack now; go read! Don’t worry about those boring history books and go read in the kid section!”

 

Dipper nearly fell on his face as he tried to dig his heels into the ground to stop himself from being pushed but was able to right himself before he made a embarrassing face plant. Turning to say something to Alice, he saw her quickly disappear into the back room. Dipper sighed and rubbed his cheeks and wince as he could feel the rawness in his cheeks. Knowing that he wasn’t really going to get anywhere with the store owner, he resigned to the fact he wasn’t going to find anything out for a bit and made his way to the mystery section that he saw earlier.

 

When he got to the section of his desire, Dipper found himself relaxing more than he had wanted to, but was really unable to stop. He really did love a good book. Looking at all the books at his height and below, Dipper found that his favorite series was unfortunately at the top of the bookcase. Rolling his eyes in annoyance, the young boy went and pulled a nearby chair to the shelf and stood on it. Getting on to the tips of his toes, Dipper strained as he tried to reach the book he wanted and wondered just why the shelves were so far apart. Suddenly, just as he had managed to get a couple of fingers worth of grasp on it, the chair, which had been wobbling precariously for the past moments, toppled to its side and taking Dipper with it. Just as Dipper had been preparing himself for the hard landing, something caught him.

 

“Ooph! Well, aren’t you heavy?” A voice said. The voice snickered slightly and Dipper opened his eyes. Looking down at him was a man with black eyes and a wide grin whose face was very close.

 

“W-Whoa!” Dipper spazzed slightly at seeing the face so close and pulled away, ending up falling out of the man’s arms and onto the ground anyway. “Ow…”

 

“Well that wasn’t very smart of you, was it Pine Tree?”

 

Dipper rubbed his head and looked up at the man who was smirking a bit at him. The first thing he notice was that he was tall, maybe even taller than Grunkle Stan, but incredibly skinny looking too. His clothes, while they seemed to fit him well, seemed so small that Mabel could probably wear them without complaint. The man had golden hair that seemed longer on one side of his face, covering his left eye from view. His other eye was trained on Dipper though and it was half closed as if watching him in contemplation, or maybe, anticipation. The man wore a black buttoned down vest. Under it he had a white long sleeved dress shirt, a black bowtie around his neck and black dress pants. 

The man continued to stare at Dipper and the boy coughed nervously. For some reason, this guy seemed to give him a weird feeling.

 

“Alright there Pine Tree?” The mysterious man asked before holding a hand out. 

 

Hesitantly, Dipper took the hand offered to him and let the other pull him up. As soon as their hands touched, a warm feeling traveled up his arm and down his spine; making Dipper shiver subconsciously. Dipper pulled away and the warm feeling was gone.

 

“Uh, yeah, I’m fine.” Dipper said awkwardly, rubbing his hand where the man had touched him. “Wait, what did you call me?” 

 

“Pine Tree!” The man gave a huge grin, one that almost defied physics.

 

Dipper had a confused look on his face and the man pointed to Dipper’s hat.

 

“Oh.” 

 

“Oh is right Pine Tree.”

 

“Well, stop calling me that! I have a name!” Dipper glared at the man but the man just laughed.

 

“O-oh, don’t do that Pine Tree! When you glare, you look like you’re pouting!”

 

Dipper flushed. “No I don’t!”

 

A knowing eye looked at him. “Are you sure? Have you ever looked in the mirror and seen what you look like?”

 

“Well, no, but-”

 

“Well nothing Pine Tree, that’s just how it is.” The man pushed Dipper’s hat down, blocking his view.

 

“Hey, stop that! And stop calling me Pine Tree! I have a name!” Dipper attempted to smack the hand away blindly but missed. He lifted his hat and glared again at the man before stopping and flushing slightly when he saw the man’s growing grin.

 

“Oh? Well how am I to know your name if you don’t give it to me hmm?” The strange man peered at Dipper, raising an eyebrow.

 

Dipper suddenly turned and walked away. “I don’t give my name to strange men!” He shouted over his shoulder as he hurried towards the door. He heard the man laugh loudly and wish him a good day. All the way home Dipper couldn’t help but wonder what was with that guy and wondered if he hung around that store a lot and hoped not. He had thought that was nice, if the woman running it wasn’t a bit crazy, and he’d like to go back to it sometime.

 

The man smirked as he watched Dipper run away. Oh yes, this would be fun.

 

** XxXxXxXx **

Mabel walked into her and Dipper’s room and found a strange sight. Dipper was standing in front of the mirror, giving it a hard stare. She stood there for a moment, cocking her head in confusion, before finally speaking up.

 

“Dipper, why are you pouting at the mirror?”

 

**TBC….**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welp, there is the beginning of my story. I'll try to work on updating regularly but I make no promises as I'm pretty horrible at updating. I'm gonna try to do my best to write one chapter but only post it once I'm halfway done with the next chapter! My hope for this story is that it will be dark, but to also have some funny, sad, and heart wrenching moments.
> 
> I'm also working on portraying Bill as I also have a hard time with writing new characters. Hopefully I'll get better and he doesn't seem as OOC as he probably does.
> 
> Sorry for my rambling, please leave comments/questions and I'll answer what I can!


	2. Stranger Danger

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dipper revisits the store in hopes of getting a book, but ends up running into that strange man again. They talk and Dipper needs to remember the phrase: "Stranger Danger". Also, Dipper finally learns the guy's name.

For the past week Dipper has been having strange dreams.

In his dreams, much like this one, he was in a maze made of bookcases. He heard someone laughing and the laugh made shivers run down his back; though strangely, he didn’t feel scared. He followed the voice and finally he came into a opening marked ‘HISTORY’ and Dipper looked around. There was nowhere else to go from here so the boy let his curiosity take over and he pulled out a book. The strange thing inside it though was the fact that all of the faces were marked out except for a single eye. On several pages, a triangle seemed to be half drawn before scribbled out. In the back of the book several numbers were scribbled on the back page: 8-5 9-19 1-11-21-1-23-18 22-1-19-3-8-9-13-7. Suddenly the numbers floated off the page and flew above Dippers head before changing shape into letters.

 

“HE IS ALWAYS WATCHING”

 

The words swirled around Dippers head faster and faster, making the boy feel sick before everything else began to spin. The laughter got louder and it was as if the owner of the laughter was standing right next to him, laughing in his ear. Dipper quickly turned around and all he saw before a great white flash was a wide dark eye staring at him. Then the whiteness swallowed him and then he woke up.

 

** XxXxXxXx **

 

Dipper woke up on the ground and groaned. Wrapping his blanket, which he had taken with him during his fall, Dipper burrowed himself into it as he leaned against his bed. He felt exhausted. Quickly the dream, or was it a nightmare, was fading and instead of writing it down like he had planned to do, he let it slip away. Soon enough, everything was gone and Dipper was beginning to drift asleep again in that awkward position when the door went flying open.

“Wha-!”

 

“Dipper! Wake up! Grunkle Stan says we’re going to town!” She grinned down at him and gasped when she saw him wrapped in blankets. “Oh, no way! I wanna be a cocoon too!” 

 

Mabel grabbed her own blankets and wrapped herself in them and did the worm towards Dipper making weird sounds. Dipper laughed slightly, shaking his head tiredly at his sister’s antics. Once she was curled up next to him, she got very still until she started to shake.

“Mabelmon is evolving into…” She burst from the cocoon of blankets with her arms stretched out and making loud roaring sounds, smacking Dipper in the face. “MetalMabelmon!!” She waved her arms like wings and ran around the room screeching before tackling Dipper and tickling.

 

“M-Mabel! N-noooo, hahaha!” Dipper tried to get his sister to stop tickling him but it was impossible.

 

“Ha ha! MetalMabelmon wins this round against Dippersaurus!” Mabel giggled and rolled off of her brother, finally letting him go from her treacherous tickling grasp.

 

Panting a bit, Dipper shook his head fondly. “I think you’ve got a couple cartoons mixed up. Plus, how did I become a dinosaur?”

 

“Because you’re old and boring.” Mabel stuck her tongue out playfully. “I bet you’re gonna just spend all day reading that book from your stupid mystery series aren’t you?”

 

“Oh!” Dipper sat up, suddenly remembering. “That’s right; the new book comes out today doesn’t it? I have to go get it! I think I have some money saved up…”

 

“Pfft, I can’t believe you’re gonna spend your money on that book. Can’t you just borrow it from the library like you usually do?” Mabel got up and threw her blankets towards her bed as Dipper pulled his money out of his savings jar from under his bed.

 

“Well yeah, but I collect the series! I have all the other books and I don’t want to wait to read it by people who put it on hold or wait for Mom and Dad buy it for me for Christmas! Plus, new book smell.” 

 

Mabel rolled her eyes in jest. “You’re such a nerd Dipper.”

 

“Well, what did you do with the money that Mom and Dad gave you for the summer? Did you spend it all already?” Dipper thought of those boy band tickets that Mabel had bought for that upcoming concert and he knew that she must have spent almost, if not all, of her summer funds on them.

“Nope! I used the money that Grunkle Stan gave me!” Mabel flopped down on her bed, kicking her legs in the air off the side of her bed.

 

“What? How do you have so much money saved up with the three dollars an hour he gives us?” Dipper looked at his twin, confused.

 

“Whaaaat?” Mabel sat up, now giving him a confused look. “Grunkle Stan gives me eight dollars! Plus sometimes he’ll give me ten if I look at him real long with my super special cute face!”

 

“He what!” Dipper could feel anger and hurt beginning to rise through him. “How come you get so much more than me? We both do the same amount of work! I sometimes even do more!”

 

“Hey,” Mabel put her hands on her hips as she got off her bed. “It’s hard sometimes being this cute!” She pressed her finger into cheek, twisted it and grinned as she posed cutely.

 

“It’s still not fair! Stan always makes me do the bad jobs and I don’t even get paid same amount as you!” Dipper pouted, folding his arms against his chest until Mabel came and put a hand on his shoulder. 

 

“Aw Dipper, don’t worry about it too much! I’m sure that he’ll up your pay if you just ask him about it! Maybe it’s just a misunderstanding.”

 

“Yeah, maybe.” Dipper muttered, not really believing it.

 

Mabel was about to say something else when Grunkle Stan’s voice was heard from downstairs.

 

“KIDS! Get your butts in gear if you want to go with me to town! I’m not gonna wait much longer!”

 

“Pffft.” Mabel blew a raspberry at the door. “As if he would actually leave us. He loves us too much to actually leave without us.”

 

Suddenly the revving of an engine was heard and the twins looked out the window to see Stan in the car and looking very ready to go. The two looked at each other before quickly hurrying.

 

“Dipper, your clothes!” Mabel threw her brother’s clothes at him, which he quickly threw away.

 

“But those are dirty! I wore them yesterday!” Dipper ran towards the closet and opened it and grabbed a red shirt and blue vest from the rack of many.

 

“How am I supposed to tell; you wear the same thing every day!” Mabel threw her arms up in the air in exasperation before she was shooed out of the room by Dipper. Quickly throwing on the day’s clothes and slipping on his shoes, he quickly ran out the door, nearly flying down the stairs, and out the Mystery Shack door, locking the handle on his way out, and sliding into the car.

 

“About time.” Stan grumbled as put the car into drive and began to drive the car. Dipper just sighed and put his head against the cool glass and closed his eyes for a little bit. Not too long later, Dipper poked him from his light sleep to announce that they were indeed in town and that Grunkle Stan was already out of the car. Yawning a bit, Dipper unbuckled himself and slipped out of the car, slamming the door behind him. Stan gave him a look, but Dipper just shrugged apologetically. 

 

“Okay kids, I got to go shopping for more stuff around the store plus I need to get more food because between you two and Soos and the pig, I can’t tell who is eating me the most out of all my money. So go do whatever you want and we’ll meet up here in,” Stan looked at his watch and squinted, “In two hours. That should be enough time.”

 

“Grunkle Stan, can I come with you? I wanna get that cereal I saw on TV!” Mabel tugged on his hand, giving him puppy dog eyes until Stan groaned and relented. The man looked at his nephew. 

 

“What about you Dipper? What are you doing?”

 

“Actually, I’m gonna go to the bookstore that’s not too far from here.” That was all Dipper had to say and the old man waved a hand.

 

“Alright. Just remember, two hours! I don’t want to come searching for you because you forgot the time because you were, ugh, reading.” Stan did a backhanded wave and headed off, Mabel following close after.

 

“See ya later Dipper! Try not to become a complete nerd!” She waved goodbye.

 

Dipper waved back before turning and heading back towards Alice’s Bookstore. Luckily it wasn’t too far from where Grunkle Stan had dropped him off and he was able to find his way pretty easily. Dipper stopped in front of the door and a feeling of foreboding came over him. Did he really want to go back into this store where the woman had force fed him burning hot cookies, avoided his questions, and where strange men lurked? Dipper shook his head of those thoughts. Sure it had been kinda weird, but Gravity Falls in general was weird. Besides, who was he to let a little weird stop him? Dipper grabbed the doorknob, turned it, and walked inside.

 

Again he was hit with the wonderful smell of a bookshop and café. Dipper could feel his stomach rumble with the reminder that he had not eaten at all this morning and he decided he would get something to eat before he left. Alice was once again behind the counter at the café part and she positively lit up when she saw him.

 

“Oh, Dipper! It’s so nice to see you again! I wasn’t sure if you would come back after last time…How are you?” Alice just radiated grandmother like kindness that made Dipper feel a bit guilty. Looking around the shop, Dipper didn’t see any other customers and it made him feel even guiltier. She probably didn’t have very many customers; though it made Dipper wonder why not? It was a very nice bookshop and café and although the cookie had burned his mouth, it had been very good.

 

“I’m fine Miss. Alice. How are you?” Dipper asked politely as he walked up to the counter and gave her a small smile.

 

The old woman chuckled and shook her head. “Just call me Alice sweetheart, everyone does!”

 

Again, Dipper discreetly looked around the empty store and wonder just who ‘everyone’ was.

 

“Well uh, Alice, I’m going to go look at books again.” Dipper took a few steps towards the tall bookcases.

 

“Okay sweetheart, if you need help getting something or you want something to eat come up here and find me.” She said with a bright, grandmotherly smile.

 

Dipper found himself smiling back and nodding. “Okay, I will!” Before turning and making his way back towards the bookcases. Since he still remembered where the mystery section was, Dipper found it in no time by remembering last time; he pulled over a chair so he could grab the book off the top shelf. Dipper was surprised though, as the mystery book series that he read was no longer on the top shelf. Confused, he stepped down from the chair and made sure he was in the right section. After confirming that, yes, he was in the right section; Dipper scanned the books to find his series. To his surprise, Dipper found them on a much lower shelf.

Although he was curious as to why they were moved, Dipper got distracted when he saw the new book in the series and he let out a very unmanly squeal of excitement before cutting himself off and looking around quickly. Sighing in relief that no one had heard that embarrassing noise, he grabbed the book and quickly made his way up to the registers to pay for the book.

 

The register at the desk was a different one then the one in the café but they were very close so that Alice noticed Dipper waiting and hurried over.

 

“Sorry sweetheart, I don’t have much help anymore…or well, any, to be honest.” Alice looked sheepishly at him before holding her hand to take Dipper’s book. Scanning it and placing it in a bag, and stated the price before looking at Dipper expectantly. The boy reached into his pocket for his wallet and froze.

 

“Oh no.” He muttered under his breath.

 

His wallet was gone and Dipper just knew what happened. With the sudden rushing that morning Dipper had forgotten his wallet at the Mystery Shack. Groaning in despair, Dipper looked up and was about to tell Alice the bad news when suddenly someone came up besides Dipper and plopped a pile of books next to Dipper’s own.

 

“Add these to that order please.” A voice said, not in a demanding voice but in a way that there was no argument.

 

Dipper looked up, about to tell the other that he couldn’t pay for his own and who does he think he is trying to make a twelve year old pay for all those books when he saw who it was.

 

“You!” Dipper pointed at that strange man from last time.

 

The man grinned widely at Dipper before pulling out a wallet and an old looking hundred dollar bill from it and handing it to Alice. Dipper tried to stop her, but she seemingly went deaf to his cries and let the man pay for his own books and Dipper’s. The old woman handed the man the bags of books and smiled before going back to the café section. Holding the bag firmly, the man pointedly looked away from Dipper and made his way towards the café’s sitting area.

 

“H-hey!” Dipper hurried after him but the man acted like he didn’t hear him. “Hey!”

 

The strange man perked up as he set the bag down in a chair, as if hearing the voice for the first time. “Oh! Were you talking to me?” He peered down at Dipper with a half lidded eye, the only one he could see at least, with a smirk.

 

“Yeah, of course I was! Who else would I be talking to?” Dipper scowled.

 

“Well forgive me then, I thought you told me last time we met that I was a strange man and don’t good kids not talk to strange men? Hmmm?”

 

Dipper could feel his face heat up and just knew the man could see it when the man’s grin got even wider. Before Dipper could even huff, the man pointed to the chair across from the one he had set his bag in. 

 

“Sit down and I’ll be right back.” Before walking towards the café counter.

 

Dipper, not really seeing anything else to do, sat down hesitantly. He swung his legs back and forth and looked at the bag across from him that held the book he had wanted plus that strange guy’s own books. Dipper wondered why he would buy the book but before he could ponder farther a plate and was set in front of him along with a cup. An innocent looking cinnamon bun sat on the plate and in the cup Dipper could smell hot chocolate. His stomach growled hungrily and Dipper looked at the man who had taken his seat, moving the bag to the ground, in front of him.

 

“Uh, thanks? But really, I have no idea who you are and you just bought me food. That’s like, rule number one as a child: never take food from strangers.” Dipper tried pointing out, despite the fact that his stomach was rumbling quite loudly now. “Also, why did you buy my book? I was going to pay for it!”

 

“Were you really?” Dipper got a sharp look from the golden haired man. “It seemed to me that you were completely out of money…or maybe you just didn’t have any on you?” The man raised an eyebrow and let that smirk that Dipper was starting to hate cross his face.

 

“I-I just forgot the money at home! It wasn’t even my fault and I was going to come back some other time and buy it.” He glared at the strange man and the guy just rolled his eyes.

 

“Been working on your glare I see…now you only look a little less cute and a little more threatening.” The man snickered when Dipper just glared even more. “Aw come on, don’t be angry! I bought the book for you as an apology for teasing you last time.”

 

Dipper’s glare lessened and blinked until he looked at the man with a suspicious look.

 

The man, as if understanding Dipper’s worries, reached into his bag and pulled out the book that Dipper had been so excited for. For the first time since he started talking to the man, he felt himself start to smile. Reaching out for it, Dipper’s grin widened with hope and anticipation. Just as he was about to grab it, the man pulled away. The young boy looked at him in disbelief and the man broke into uproarish laughter.

 

“O-Oh my gosh! Your face; I wish you could see your face! You looked like I just kicked your puppy and then told you both Christmas and your birthday were canceled for this year! Oh gosh that was good.” The man grinned sharply as he wiped a tear away and his chuckles died down. The man dangled it in front of Dipper but made sure to he held it out of reach when the boy tried to grab at it.

 

“I’ll give it to you for one little thing! Just one teensy-bitty thing…What’s your name?”

 

Staring back at the guy, Dipper wondered if he should really tell the guy his name, but really, was it that big of a deal? Besides, his Grunkle Stan was pretty infamous around Gravity Falls and the fact that his niece and nephew were staying the summer with him was apparently big news for the little town. Finally, Dipper just sighed.

 

“My name is Dipper Pines.”

 

A victorious smirk crossed the man’s face and he handed Dipper the book; who quickly held it to his chest as if the man would try and grab it back from him. 

 

“See? Now was that so hard?”

 

“Yes.” Dipper glare softened just a little as he looked at the book in his arms. 

 

He was half tempted to open it and start reading when his stomach gave a painful reminder about the fact that there was food sitting in front of him. Dipper hesitated though; looking at the food to looking back to the man who was watching him. The man stirred his own drink, coffee by the smell of it, and took a small sip.

 

“It’s not poisoned if that’s what you’re wondering about. I just got it from Alice; you can even ask her if you’re so paranoid. Besides, poisoning is too Days of Our Lives material.” The strange man rolled his eyes and Dipper almost hoped they would get stuck that way.

 

Figuring that Alice would’ve said something if she saw the man do something funny, hopefully at least, Dipper began to dig into his cinnamon bon with a gusto. Soon enough it was completely gone and he was licking the icing off his fingers when he heard the man across from him let out a small moan. Looking up from his plate in confusion, the man just gave a strange smile and seemed to hold his mug of coffee a bit tighter.

 

“Ah. Sorry. My coffee just burnt my tongue a little, heh.” He stuck the tip of his tongue out at Dipper, as if trying to prove his point.

 

Dipper just shrugged; the guy was weird no question about it. Speaking of weird…

 

“Hey, what’s up with your hair? Why do you have at whole ‘emo-kid-wannabe-rock star’ look going on?” The boy gestured toward hair that covered one side of the man’s face; blocking his other eye from view.

 

The stranger sat up, an actual offended look on his face. 

 

“Excuse you? This is not an angst ridden teenager’s haircut, oh no, no, no! This is a mature, sophisticated adult hairstyle…that hides my totally cool eye patch!” He suddenly pulled the hair away from his face and showed a white medical eye pad that was that was taped to his face.

 

“Whoa, dude!” Dipper pulled back, more surprised than disgusted. “What happened to your eye?”

 

“And here I thought you were polite.” The guy let go of his hair and it fell back into place, but Dipper could still see fringe of the make shift eye patch from where the hair hid it. “Don’t you know it’s considered rude to ask about things like that? It’s very triggering to a sensitive soul like me.”

 

“Er,” Dipper paused because the strange man was right. He knew that if his mother was here she would’ve scolded him good for that.

 

“And who knows, _Dipper_ ,” Hearing his name come from that man sent a weird sensation through Dipper and he unconsciously leaned forward. “Maybe I don’t actually have an eye underneath!”

 

Both of them were quiet for a while, just staring at each other. Then the man snorted and shook his head, amused.

 

“You are way too easy to tease. Your face when you think I’m serious-pffft!” The man smacked the table, making Dipper jump and scowl at him.

 

“Are you ever serious?” He asked the strange man.

 

“Are you ever not?” The man rested his chin in his hand and stared at Dipper with a bored stare. “If you don’t ever lighten up you’re gonna end up gray by the time you’re twenty…plus, you won’t be any fun to talk to if all you do is take things seriously.”

 

“I don’t take everything seriously!”

 

“You seem to be taking the two of us, who are just sitting here and enjoying a good mid-morning chat, and seem to be throwing every good gesture I give you away as if I’ve tried to personally ruin your life.” 

 

Truthfully, Dipper did begin to feel guilty at this point. Sighing, he just ducked his head a bit, not noticing the man’s small knowing smirk.

 

“Okay, fine. Maybe I am being a bit hard but it’s just because the only adult I can trust in this crazy town is my Grunkle Stan and Soos. Even then Stan is still really shady more than half the time and Soos is really more of a man-child then a man.” Sighing and slumping in his seat Dipper grumbled, “Besides, whenever I try to tell Grunkle Stan or another adult about the weird creatures and things that happen here, they never believe me or they think it’s fake.”

 

“Humph, humans in general tend to be oblivious or tend to ignore things that they don’t label ‘normal’.” The man took a final sip of his coffee and put the mug to the side.

 

“Yeah…Wait, what!” Dipper looked up in shock.

 

“What, what?”

 

“You believe me?” Dipper whispered in astonishment. “You actually believe that there is strange stuff that goes on here in Gravity Falls.”

 

“Believe, ha! I _know_ there are strange things that go on here.” The man leaned closer and folded his fingers together and rested his chin on them, staring directly at Dipper. “I have been in Gravity Falls for a long time. While I’m not always here, I know a lot of things. One thing for certain, Gravity Falls is a town full of mystery that just begs to be cracked.”

 

Both of them were quiet again for a moment when…

 

“I knew it!” Dipper stood from his chair, nearly knocking it over, and pumping his fist into the air. “I knew I wasn’t the only one who knew just how strange this town was! People seem to know it, but they don’t take it as serious as they should. I mean, there are all these dangerous creatures that come by and the fact that even with them, no one seems to care, it was driving me up the wall.”

The man smiled beautifully at Dipper. “Well I guess you and I are from a dying breed huh?” After that, he stood and brought his mug and Dipper’s empty plate up to the dirty dishes drop off and waving to Alice, who waved back from the sink where she was washing dishes.

 

“Well, it’s time for me to go.” He walked back to the table and grabbed his bag and gave a smirk and a wink to Dipper. “See you later then.”

 

“W-wait! You can’t go just yet! I finally found someone who actually believes me and you’re just going to leave me here? I don’t even know your name!” Dipper just knew he was pouting but he didn’t really care at the moment.

 

“This is a change of pace isn’t it? Before you didn’t want anything to do with me before but now you don’t want me to leave. Oh Lil’ Dipper; you do care!” Sniffing dramatically, the man wiped a fake tear away.

 

“Give me a break, I’m twelve. I’m supposed to be cautious of every where person over the age of seventeen who comes up to talk to me randomly.” Dipper huffed and the man just laughed.

 

“Well what do you think of me now, huh?” The man questioned him.

 

“I think…” Dipper hesitated, before speaking slowly, “I think you are a bit of a strange guy, but you seem nice enough.”

 

“Nice, huh?” The man’s eyes almost seemed to flash in the sunlight that streamed through the window as he rocked back and forth on his heels. He was wearing that strange smile again too; the one that seemed very strange to Dipper for some reason he couldn’t decipher.

 

“Well, I guess you’ll have to be the final judge of that, hmm? Until next time Dipper. And oh,” The man stopped at the door with his hand on the door knob and looked at the boy.

 

“My name is Bill. Bill Cipher. See you next time.”

 

And with that the man, Bill Cipher, was gone.

 

** XxXxXxXx **

 

Dipper almost missed his meet up time with his Grunkle Stan and Mabel because he was reading his book. Well, more of his distracted meeting. He kept thinking about Bill and if he was honest with himself, he was getting excited for the next time they meet. Finally he would have someone to discuss his theories and talk about the mysteries of Gravity Falls with. With Bill he had someone who wouldn’t think he’s making stories up (Stan), wouldn’t get lost in trying to understand it (Soos), and someone who wouldn’t get bored listening to him (Mabel).

 

Since the first time he met Bill Cipher, Dipper couldn’t wait to run into him again.

** TBC… **

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welp, here is the next chapter. Dipper and Bill's relationship is just starting and Bill is luring Dipper into his web. Also, Bill has a flair for dramatics if that wasn't obvious already.
> 
> This is a bit longer then the last chapter and before I had mentioned I was gonna try to wait until I was at least halfway done with the next chapter before posting the previous one. Yeah, well that didn't happen. I'm just gonna post this because I don't want to make anyone wait.
> 
> Also, I'm trying my best to keep people in character even with how dark this story is and is going to become. So hopefully that seems alright. I have a lot of plans laid out for future use so I wonder if some people can see notice them! Feel free to guess!


	3. Ice Cream Can Lead To Indirect Kissing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> While Dipper tries his best to get away from Stan's and Mabel's growing arguments about how he treats his customers and other things, Dipper decides to go to the park to hang out...Except things never go the way we expect them. Bill shows up and buys Dipper food again and ends up being a creep once again. If Dipper wasn't so lonely or naive he'd realize that there is something seriously wrong here.

Lately things had become tense in the Mystery Shack. Dipper knew that it was going to come eventually, as it has slowly been stirring since him and Mabel had come to stay for the summer. Surprisingly though, the tension was between Mabel and Stan instead of himself and the old man. After all the strain the man put on him, he thought he would’ve lost his cool first. But, of course, Mabel had to go and surprise Dipper.

She kept scolding Stan; telling him that he needed to be nicer to his customer and employees and Stan was obviously ignoring her. Honestly, Dipper though that all the subtle, and not so subtle, jabs were getting much too heated and ducked out of the Mystery Shack and went to town. Dipper could get into arguments and fights just as much as the next boy, but fights with family always gave him a sick feeling inside. He hated any kind of fights with Mabel that weren’t pillow or tickle fights or ones that could be diffused with silly faces and awkward sibling hugs. Walking the path to town was boring but the brisk walk made Dipper work out some of his aggravation.

Once he was in town though, Dipper really didn’t have any idea where to go. He thought about going to Alice’s but he still didn’t have any money on him and Dipper didn’t want to take advantage of the kind lady and make her feel like that she had to give him food or anything. And honestly, the day was so nice that Dipper wanted to enjoy it. So when he passed by the park, Dipper decided to head in and wander through looking for a place to relax for a bit.

Dipper walked past the chatting moms and their unwatched children who ran around screaming their heads off; they were much too loud for him. He passed some teenagers playing basketball and hanging out and continued on without giving a second glance. Finally after passing picnicking families, he finally found an area of the playground that seemed completely abandoned. Dipper wondered why, but shrugged and figured that it was because it was a longer walk then the ones in the front of the park.

There were swings that seemed stable enough, and Dipper slowly sat down on the swing and pulled a little on the chains to see if it would give away. Luckily for him, it seemed strong so with a small smile and a nod, Dipper pushed off the ground and began to kick.

As he began pumping his legs, and getting higher with each swing, Dipper closed his eyes and thought back to when he was much younger and when he had actually sat on a swing for the first time. He and Mabel were four years old and it was their first time visiting the park. Their father had decided to take them while their mother was away at work. The twins had been so excited; finally they could visit the park that their parents had promised to take them to for a long time. There were so many things to play with, and so many other kids, that the twins didn’t know what to do first.  
It was the first time that the twins would get negative reactions to the closeness between them. Dipper didn’t want to play monster trucks with the boys unless Mabel could play with him, and Mabel didn’t want to play dolls if Dipper couldn’t play too. So the different groups shunned the twins, calling them names that made the two kid’s eyes tear up. They ran away and instead played together.

Mabel was the one who first saw the open swings. Two swings right next to each other seemed like a god given miracle and the two ran hand in hand together towards them. Sitting down quickly in the cool plastic seats, Dipper and Mabel grinned widely at each other in childish glee. With one hand holding onto the chain, and another holding on to the other’s hand, the twins began to kick as they had seen kids on TV do. At first it was awkward and they kept swinging in the wrong directions, but soon enough as they always did, they found a way to work together. The two of them kicked higher and higher, with their hands still clasped together, until the point they were so high they were sure that they could see the other side of the world from their highest arc.

That sense of childhood innocence where monsters didn’t exist, their parents were the most perfect people in the world, and Mabel would always be his best friend filled Dipper with nostalgia and a bit of sadness too. At least Dipper knew that he could always count on Mabel to be his friend. So busy thinking of old memories; Dipper didn’t realize that the swing set was beginning to shake dangerously.

Air brushed against Dipper’s face as he began to pump his legs even harder. He leaned forward, doing his best to reach the highest arc he could. There was a creaking sound and the young boy was able to finally notice that because he was going so high and so hard, he was almost causing the swing set, which was old and creaky, beginning to tip forward and backwards with each front arc and back arc Dipper swung. Just as he was deciding to stop kicking, the creaking noise turned more high pitched and shrill and Dipper felt tremors shake the swing set and as he came to the top of another backward arc and he could see the swing set beginning to tip forward. 

Overwhelming panic took over Dipper’s body as he gripped the chains of the seat tightly as he could only watch as his body swung forward from his continuing force; sure that once he begins to fall backwards, the top will come falling down on his head.

‘ **Jump**.’ A voice commanded in his head. ‘ **Jump now!** ’

Dipper, too panicked to really think of anything else or to question sudden voices appearing in his head, jumped at the top forward arch. He let out a yell as he went flying and crashing into the ground. As he was sitting up, his vision swimming, Dipper heard and felt a large crash. Ringing filled the air from the aftermath and birds flew away, squawking loudly, as Dipper blinked and gaped at what was left of the swing set.

Everything was in shambles. The metal pipes showed more rusting then Dipper had realized when he had first sat down in the swing seat. The swing set must have been rusting and nearly broken for a long time now; but with Dipper’s fast pumping swinging, it must have finally pushed it past its limit. Looking towards the ground, Dipper’s face paled dramatically as he saw the seat and where he would’ve been if he hadn’t jumped. There was a large pipe, with one end broken off into an incredibly sharp edge, stabbing the swing seat into the ground. If he had not have jumped, Dipper is sure that the pipe would’ve been right through him instead. He shuttered and gripped his chest and smoothed it down. He couldn’t believe just how lucky he was.

“Well, aren’t you just a flesh bag full of grace Pine Tree?” A voice snickered from behind.

Dipper jumped up in shock, turning around and gaping.

“Bill!”

Bill was indeed standing there, looking down at him with a smirk and half lidded eyes.

“Oh me, oh my! Look at just at all the damage you did! I never knew you were into vandalism and here I thought you were just a nerdy little boy!” Bill drawled out, putting a hand over his mouth in mocking horror.

“What? No, I didn’t do that on purpose! It was an accident; it just broke on me!” Dipper hurriedly tried to explain, pointing at the now heaps of destroyed park equipment lying haphazardly on the ground.

“Well I might believe you, but I don’t think they will.” Bill pointed with his cane, which Dipper hadn’t even noticed the man carrying until then, towards the busier parts of the park. There Dipper noticed that many chattering moms and their rowdy children, and picnicking families had all stopped when the swings had come crashing down and even from where he was, the young boy could hear their chatter.

“What happened?”

“Is anyone hurt?!”

“Who is that boy over there, I can’t see without my glasses…”

“Who would on God’s green earth would decide to destroy an innocent swing set!?!”

“Oh this makes me so ANGRY! I’m gonna hunt whoever or whatever did that to the park equipment and rip them apart!”

The chattering had gone south into violenceville, and as he could hear the roars of the crowd, Dipper could just feel the blood leaving his face.

“Wow, that group of friendly park goers turned into a vicious blood thirsty mob in under five seconds. I’m impressed.” Bill let out a low chuckle and Dipper gulped and took a step back, backing right into the man.

“B-but I didn’t do it on purpose! And besides, shouldn’t they be more worried if I was hurt instead of the swings?” Dipper didn’t take his eyes off of the growing restless crowd as he instinctively leaned his back to Bill’s front. “Oh man, are those…pitchforks? And torches!?!”

“Hmm, I give them a six; the pitchfork and torch angry mob is so overdone.” Bill placed a hand on Dipper’s shoulder and leaned down.

“I think we should run.” Bill breathed on the boy’s ear and Dipper felt himself freeze up at the sudden closeness. It didn’t last for long though as he was suddenly grabbed by the wrist and pulled away from the face of the mob. “Run; as in now, pine-needles-for-brains!” 

Dipper let out a yelp as he was pulled along by Bill who ran with long strides that Dipper struggled to keep up with. He didn’t bother to look back and see if the mob was still following and just focused on running. Finally they came to another entrance side of the park and Bill just suddenly stopped; causing Dipper to run right into his back. It didn’t even seem to faze the man, but Dipper fell back on his butt with a loud groan.

“We lost them!” Bill said smugly, as if there had been no worries at all. 

“Yeah…” Dipper stood up and brushed himself off. “Man, now I can’t even come back to the park anymore.”

“Why not?” Bill sounded honestly curious and Dipper could only give him dumbfounded look.

“I accidently broke some park equipment and the entire community goes into an old horror movie mob mentality on me. I think that accounts for me not wanting to go back to the park.”

“Pffft, I think you’re just being a scaredy cat. They’ll probably forget about it and get back to their meat sticks that aren’t really made of dogs. What’s it made of you ask; now that’s the real mystery!” Bill laughed as he said this and Dipper could only shake his head and wonder what was wrong with this guy.

“You’re weird.” Dipper said after Bill’s laughter finally died down.

“And you aren’t acting as cute as you look.” The blond haired man bobbed the boy’s nose with a finger and smirked when he saw Dipper’s cheeks flushed.

“I am not cute!” Dipper glared and Bill doubled back as if struck; clutching his chest.

“Oh wow kid, you’ve gotten even better. I think that glare is a three out of ten! Just wait; you’ll a regular medusa someday!” Bill guffawed at the withering look Dipper sent him and threw his arm over the preteen’s shoulder. “Don’t be so uptight now; the day looks great, you got away from being burned at the stake by an angry mob and you’ve got the cherry on the top of the ice cream: Me! Speaking of ice cream, I’m hungry and craving some sweetness to your bitter attitude so let’s go get some!”

Dipper opened his mouth to say that he hadn’t even had lunch yet but shut it. How in the world could he say no to ice cream for lunch? Plus, maybe he could even get to talk to Bill about Gravity Falls and the mysteries it holds more. Giving a small smile up at the man, Dipper nodded.

“Sure!”

So the two of them walked away from the park and the entire time, Bill’s arm stayed around the boy’s shoulder. Every time they walked by someone Bill would pull Dipper closer to his chest to move the young boy out of other people’s ways. Dipper didn’t say anything, his feelings much too conflicted to do so. He felt a little embarrassed as he was basically being hugged by this man who was barely more than a stranger to him but at the same time, there was a warmness that poured from Bill to Dipper. Bill’s body gave out a strange heat that once Dipper’s own body felt it that he couldn’t help but let out a small shiver but feeling his own face flush unconsciously. It was such a strange feeling but the boy found it nice and a bit intimidating. Once they were in front of a small ice cream store, Bill slowly pulled away and once there was no more part of Bill touching him, Dipper suddenly felt very cold and wished that the man would touch him again. Suddenly though, the boy was snapped out of his strange and somewhat fogged up thought when Bill spoke.

“Are you going to walk in or are you just going to make me hold the door for the rest of the day?” Bill looked at Dipper with a slightly exasperated look and Dipper ducked his head in embarrassment.

“Sorry!” He mumbled and hurried in and looking around.

Inside it seemed to be just a normal looking ice cream shop, albeit, strangely empty for a summer’s day. There were tables and benches to the sides, a cold case of ice cream and behind the case was a very bored looking teenage boy with a bad case of acne. He looked up at them and blinked slowly, before jumping up in realization.

“H-Hello! What can I get for you today?” The teen’s voice cracked horribly and Dipper could only wince in sympathy.

“Well? What do you want Dipper?” Bill peered into the case of ice cream with a wide eye filled with fascination. “Since when did they get so many different colors and flavors? I don’t even know what a tutti-frutti is.”

“Uh, I guess I’ll just get chocolate or something…” At his answer, Bill just scoffed.

“Chocolate? Really? Out of all these flavors you’re gonna go for that? I’m sorry to tell you kid but you’re boring.” 

“I am not boring! I just find chocolate to be a fine flavor.” Dipper huffed and Bill rolled his one eye.

“Yeah, if you’re boring!” Bill grinned impishly and Dipper rose to the bait.

“Fine! Then I’ll get…uh, that mystery flavor! That way I can figure it out and you don’t even know what it is.” Dipper stated a bit smugly.

“Great! Then I’ll get a one of vanilla.” Bill said to the teenage boy behind the counter, who suddenly seemed nervous a bit, nodded and got to making their cones.

“What!” Squawked Dipper before pointing at the man in accusation. “You just made fun of me for wanting chocolate and now you’re getting vanilla?”

Bill gave Dipper a look and accepted his cone from the teen worker. “You don’t go wrong with the classics Pine Tree.” He took a lick and then smirked at the boy.

Dipper grumbled something unpleasant under his breath and took his own cone while Bill paid (again) for their food. Once it was all paid for, the two sat down at a table and Dipper began to examine the mystery flavor. Bill paused from eating his own ice cream cone and shot a confused look at the boy.

“Just what in the world are you doing?”

“I’m examining it.”

“…Why?” Bill asked, honestly sounding baffled.

“Be- _cause_ ,” Dipper stressed his words, and staring at the man across from him accusingly. “It’s a mystery and I want to solve it.” 

“It’s ice cream.” Bill said simply.

“Yeah, but-”

“You eat ice cream; you don’t try to solve it.”

“But-”

“Just eat your ice cream Dipper.”

Dipper stopped what he was going to say when the man said his name. Deciding that Bill was right, not that he would tell that smug looking guy that though, Dipper started to slowly eat the ice cream.

“So? How you cracked the mystery yet Sherlock?” Bill lazily took another lick and watched with amusement as Dipper’s nose scrunched up and his brows furrowed as he tried to think.

After a few moments and a couple of more experimental licks, Dipper sighed and slumped his head down on the table.

“I don’t know what it is…I’ve never tasted anything like this at all.” Groaning with defeat, Dipper stared at the ice cream cone in his hand with distaste.

“Well, was it bad?”

“Not really, I mean, it was just weird though. I wish I had just gotten chocolate instead.”

“Oh don’t pout; here.” Suddenly Dipper’s cone was taken from his hand and another was gently pushed into it. It was Bill’s half eaten vanilla cone.

“Uhhh…” Dipper was going to say something, anything, but when he looked up the man had already taken a bite out of the mystery ice cream. “Well?”

Bill took a few more licks before he seemed to suddenly realize what the flavor was and pulled his head back in surprise.

“Well no wonder you didn’t recognize the flavor, I’d actually be concerned if you did; it’s vodka! Vodka flavored ice cream; what will they come up with next?” He took another lick and looked up at the counter where the teen seemed to be nervously looking at them. Bill chuckled. “No wonder the kid is acting so shifty; he’s wondering if he’ll get in trouble.”

Dipper eyes went wide as he realized that he had just had his first try of alcohol, though it was very diluted. He pondered a bit and shrugged. He didn’t understand why adults, or teens, liked to drink the stuff. It was so bitter and with the ice cream it didn’t even taste right, at least, he assumed so. Shrugging, Dipper figured that Bill could have it if he liked it. The sudden coldness on his hand reminded the boy that he had his own cone in his hand. Just as he was about to take a lick, he stopped and blushed brightly.

“What’s wrong now Pine Tree?” Bill sighed, already to the cone of his ice cream.

“W-well, it’s just that you were eating this…Licking it…” Dipper stumbled over his words, he face heating up.

“Yeah, so?” With a crunch, Bill bit into his cone.

Dipper didn’t reply, he just looked down at the melting cone in his hand and thought about his sister and her talk about boys. She always said that something like sharing food meant indirect kissing or something and then she would go on squealing about something or another but Dipper usually tuned her out when she did so.  
He continued to stare at his ice cream, unaware of Bill’s own eyes watching him intently. The man popped the last piece of his cone into his mouth and licked his lips. Finally, Dipper seemed to make a decision.

‘It’s just like when I share food with Mabel. It’s even a big deal; people do it all the time.’ Dipper thought to himself. He nodded, agreeing with himself before taking a small lick. And then another and another.

Nothing tasted wrong with it; it actually tasted pretty darn good. It was a huge improvement from the vodka flavored ice cream. Soon both the ice cream and its cone were gone and Dipper sighed with contentment. He looked up when he heard Bill chuckle, and found the man watching him with an amused up turn of the lips.

“Kid, you have a little, ah,” Bill grabbed a napkin and reached forward, quickly wiping the side of Dipper’s mouth. The man’s thumb quickly brushed against Dipper’s lips and the boy pulled back quickly, looking at Bill with wide eyes. The man just gave an easy grin and a small wave of his hand.

“Sorry about that! You just had a little bit of your ice cream left on your cheek.”

“I could’ve gotten it! I’m not a little kid.” Dipper grumbled, thoroughly embarrassed.

“Oh? If you’re not a child, what are you?”

Dipper frowned at Bill, not sure if he was serious or just teasing him again.

“I’m a teen! Well…I’m almost a teen. I’m twelve right now but it’s not too long to my birthday so you could basically call me one already.”

Dipper thought he heard Bill mutter something about ‘age’, ‘clocks’ and something that rhymed with it but when Dipper asked what he said, Bill just waved his concerns away.

“So Dipper, tell me, what creatures have you seen in this wonderful little town of Gravity Falls?” Bill leaned forward and rested his chin in his palm.

The boy’s eyes just lit up and an excited grin crossed his face.

“Well, when we first got here, when I say we, I mean my sister and I, my sister found a boyfriend and I thought something was really weird about him. I thought that maybe he was a vampire but it turns out it was a bunch of gnomes who were wearing an outfit trying to pretend to be human and get my sister to be their queen.”

“How in the world did they manage to hide the fact that they are gnomes? Aren’t they supposed to be mini-midgets?” 

“They actually stood on each other. And then later, they became this huge gnome from all the gnomes in the forest and attacked us.”

“Get out!”

“No,” Dipper laughed, absolutely ecstatic. “I’m serious! It looked like one of those monsters from the Godzilla movies! Oh man, we were so scared but it was so cool at the same time! We went flying through the air in the golf cart and it was just amazing.”

“Wow,” Bill leaned back in his chair. “That is pretty amazing. Who was driving?”

“Me.”

Bill let out an impressed whistle. “Pretty impressive Pine Tree.”

Dipper gave a very pleased smile.

“Oh man, if you think that is cool, wait till I tell you more!”

“That sound great kid, but we’re gonna have to end this little session for now.” Bill said, standing up.

“What?” Dipper’s grinning face was changed into one filled with disappointment. “Why do you have to go? I was just starting to get to tell you about the cool adventures I’ve had.” The whine in Dipper’s voice began creeping out.

“So sorry Pine Tree but I have things that I must do. But don’t worry; we have the whole summer ahead of us to talk about the creatures that could potentially maim and or kill people.” Bill grabbed Dipper’s hat off his head and ruffled Dipper’s hair, causing the kid to laugh.

“Well, I guess so. I’m just kinda glad that I got to meet someone who believes me and is interested in what I say…” Dipper wanted to say more but he closed his mouth and looked away.

God, Bill probably thought he was a total dork now. And honestly, this guy didn’t even really know him and yet he was pouring his feelings like he was some mushy girl. Wow, he really was lonely wasn’t he? How pathetic. Suddenly Dipper was pulled out of his self deprecating thoughts when hands were placed on his shoulders. Looking up from the floor Dipper was surprised to find Bill kneeling down in front of him and nearly inches from his face.

“Hey now, don’t fret Pine Tree! If you’re so lonely, why don’t we meet up tomorrow?”

Bill watched as Dipper let out a smile so wide that he was sure the kid’s face was going to actually split in two. The kid looked so excited for the idea to hang out with him. The man bit back a smirk. This was good.

“Yeah! I-I mean,” Dipper coughed, trying his best not to seem so incredibly eager. “Sure. Why not? That sounds agreeable.” He nodded with his attempt at a serious face.

Bill grinned and Dipper felt his ‘serious’ face crack and he grinned back.

“Okay then kiddo! We’ll meet tomorrow…hmmm, how about we meet at the founder’s statue. That’s not too far from the Mystery Shack for you right?” Bill got up from his kneeling position on the ground, and looked down at the kid with an easy grin.

“Sure! What time?” Dipper looked more and more excited with each second of the conversation and Bill was eating it up. He couldn’t help it; the boy was just so cute when he was excited!

“Anytime you can make it is fine! I’ll probably be hanging around but don’t feel like you have to rush or anything.” Bill shrugged, giving off the aura that he didn’t mind.

“Oh, okay! I’ll come by as soon as I can!” Dipper made his way to the door and waved enthusiastically to the other. “See you tomorrow Bill!”

“Bye Dipper! Try to remember to eat breakfast for once before we meet!” He couldn’t help but throw that small teasing jab in. 

He stood there, waiting until Dipper was out of sight before sighing and cracking his knuckles. Bill quickly turned on his heel and glared darkly at the teen behind the counter. The teen worker flinched and tried to back away instinctively; only to hit the wall behind him. Bill slammed his fists against the counter.

“Now tell me: whose bright idea was it to put alcohol into your mystery flavor and let kids pick it out? Was it yours boy? Was it? Do you know how dangerous that is? Even for just a small amount like that? Especially in a growing boy’s body! What if he had eaten the whole thing and actually had gotten drunk like that? Is that even possible? Who knows, human bodies are so weird.” Halfway through his rant, Bill had lost any steam he had and was more or less mumbling to himself.

“Uh…” The teen behind the counter just blinked, unsure what to do. 

“Oh shut up, you’re so annoying.” Bill snapped, looking at the teen in disgust. “Do something useful and give me another cone of that mystery flavor.”

The teen, who was still a little fearful of him, quickly got another cone and handed it to Bill who didn’t bother to wait to start into it.

“U-uh sir? You got to pay for that first…” The teen gulped when the man stared him straight in the face with just one eye.

“Nah. I don’t feel like paying again.” And he went back to eating, lazily heading towards the door.

The teen was shocked. “Sir! You can’t do that! I-if you don’t pay, I’ll have to call the police!” He said in his strongest voice, trying to sound brave but failing when his voice cracked half way through.

“No you won’t.” Bill opened the door and looked back at the man. “Because you won’t remember any of this.”

“Wha-?”

With a snap of his fingers, Bill watched with a smug look as the teen’s eyes suddenly glowed a bright golden color before going blank. Chuckling to himself and walking out, Bill walked away towards his current residence in a happy stride as he thought about his little date with Pine Tree tomorrow (even if he didn’t realize it was a date just yet).  
Everything was coming along just great.

**XxXxXxXx**

The teen blinked and looked around the empty ice cream shop. The last thing he could remember was the sound of the door opening and then nothing. Maybe he had fallen asleep? He looked at the clock and his eyes widened at how much time had gone by. Deciding to get to cleaning before the end of his shift, the teen moved to look at the buckets of ice cream.  
He paused when he saw the mystery flavor was noticeably less full then it had been earlier and he felt a moment of panic. He had made this flavor as a joke so that if his friends came by he could give them some but seeing as they hadn’t come by, why would it be so low?

Something told him to get rid of it though, a deep feeling that made him shiver. Finally, the teen just took the bucket and got rid of the ice cream. And for the rest of the night he tried to ignore the feeling that something just wasn’t right.

**XxXxXxXx**

When Dipper finally got home, Mabel and Soos were sitting in the living room watching TV and Grunkle Stan was noticeably absent.

“Dipper! There you are! Come watch TV with us!” Mabel called, patting the floor next to her in invitation.

“Yeah dude, they’re gonna show a monster chick flick marathon. All the badass lady monsters back to back! You can’t mess with the classics.” Soos said through a handful of popcorn that he shoved in his mouth.

“Thanks, but I think I’m just gonna go upstairs and read for a while.” 

“What? You’re such a nerd Dipper.” Mabel said before going back to watching the television set. Dipper rolled his eyes and with a wave to Soos, he made his way upstairs.

Just as the movie was about to start, a commercial cut in.

“This is Gravity Falls local news with breaking news: a strange gas leak at the local park?” The announcer spoke from the TV, making Mabel groan.

“News? I don’t want that! Give back the girls who kick butt! I want my strong feminism inducing role models!” Mabel rolled on the floor, eating any popcorn she left uneaten.

“Dude, shhh! It might be important.” Soos turned up the volume just a bit and watched intently.

“-as leak appeared to be the cause of all the confusion in the park. We go to Nadine who is out on the field currently interviewing someone who experienced it first hand. Nadine, if you will?”

The woman reporter spoke back to the news anchor for a few seconds before turning her microphone to a woman who she was interviewing.

“Well, it was very strange.” She said as she was asked what it was like. “All I really remember is that strange loud crash and thinking: ‘Oh gosh, I hope that old swing set didn’t break’. Everyone knows that the swings and other play equipment in that area is waiting to collapse at any second but the city council just hasn’t gone through the motions to actually rip it down. Well, after that I was about to head towards the noise when everything got fuzzy. I can’t remember anything before that but when I came to I was on the other side of the park and I had a torch in one hand and a pitchfork in the other! It was so strange, as I haven’t done anything of that sort since my high school years and I’m not even sure how I got them! Everybody else was pretty confused too, as well. We all just got rid of them and headed back to the other side and sure enough on our way back, the old swing set is broken and I’m just glad no one was hurt!” 

“Pffft, this is boring!” Mabel put her arms over her face and Soos nodded in agreement.

The two continued their evening, unaware of just how important that newscast was.

**TBC…**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Notes about story: Yes, I know this chapter was slow and boring and it doesn't seem important but it is for the future. I have a LOT of the story planned out; especially the ending. Just understand that Bill is a manipulative son of a bitch and that everything he does he does it mostly for a reason. I wonder how many of you guys will figure out what's going on before the time it even happens. (Though as of right now you can't really tell...)
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> **Please Read(!!!): Yes, I know that this chapter has taken a bit to be updated compared to how quickly I updated Chapter two but please know that no matter how long it takes me to update, I WILL NOT GIVE UP ON THIS FIC!!! I work guys, I work a LOT. I work many different hours and sometimes I get up super early and when I come home all I want to do is take a nap and/or relax.**
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> **It might take a bit for updates to come out but please continue to wait patiently.**


	4. A Hunting We Will Go

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dipper continues to have strange foreboding dreams; but only if he could actually remember them. The tension between Grunkle Stan and Mabel finally comes to a boil as Stan leaves Mabel in charge of the store. Dipper finally gets his chance to shine by getting a real supernatural creature as a exhibit...the only problem is that he needs some help. Luckily, Bill is more then willing to help Dipper.
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> Plus, Bill finally moves into a new house.

He was dreaming again.  This time, Dipper was running through the woods. He just knew something was chasing him, or was it corralling him?, towards something.  Dipper was heaving as he ran; sweat forced his shirt to cling to his body.  As he ran deeper into the woods, past trees that almost looked like they had eyes carved into their bark, it got darker and the ground got softer.  The ground under Dipper’s shoes began to shift and slide as he ran and the boy was too preoccupied with getting away to think about what that meant.

Suddenly as he ran, there was no longer any ground under his feet and he was falling face first into shockingly cold and deep water.

Dipper struggled to regain balance, to find the ground that he could use so he had some leverage to hold his head above the water but it was too deep.  He was blind in the darkness and feeling around for something to hold onto was useless. Just as sudden as the ground has disappeared under his feet just moments ago, Dipper could suddenly tell that there was someone, or something, in the water with him.  He waded slightly, looking around in hopes to see something other than the inky blackness.

There was a pair of hands grabbing him suddenly, holding Dipper up and above the waterline from under the boy’s arms.  Dipper could breath easily now, but still unable to see who was holding him drove the boy into a frenzy of kicking and thrashing.  Even from all the kicking of water and his own yelling, Dipper was able to hear a soft chuckling that sent shivers down his spine.

  
Then Dipper was pushed and held under the water.

  
Too panicked, too scared for his life, all rational thought left Dipper’s mind.  He screamed as he tried to rip, scratch, doing anything to get the hands off of him. Kicking led to nothing either as his feet never connected to anything.  Pressure began to build up in Dipper’s chest as his body screamed for air.  It was impossible; Dipper realized this to himself as more and more energy left his body.  The being holding him down was too strong and it was going to kill him.

  
‘I don’t want to die!’ Dipper cried out in his mind but nevertheless his eyes began to close as the last couple of bubbles of air slipped out of his mouth.

  
Through the now calming surface of the water and through his hazy mind, Dipper almost thought the crescent moon was instead a wide grin of some mad man.

  
** XxXxXxXx **

**  
**Dipper awoke and gasped for breath.

 

His body shook in fright as he sat up and looked around.  He was in the room he was sharing with Mabel.  He was in the Mystery Shack; he was safe.  Dipper’s shaking had begun to subside and his breathing had regulated.  Slowly, he stood from his bed and the cool air hit his skin and made him shiver.  His clothes and skin were damp in what he prayed was only sweat.

Dipper looked across the room to his sister’s side and saw only her back and heard her soft mumbling as she slept on.  He looked to the table between both of their beds and grabbed his watch to see what time it was.  It was incredibly early; at least, it was early for Dipper to be up.  It was barely seven am but already Dipper could see the sun peaking into the window and bathing the room with light.

While looking at the table next to his bed, Dipper realized that his glass of water had been knocked over and spilled over his bed, and himself, during the night.

  
‘Probably during the nightmare.’  Dipper thought to himself.

 

Both Dipper and Mabel were the types to get very physical in dreams.  Often they would kick or smack something and end up bruising themselves, or if they had been in sleeping in the same bed, each other.  Their dreams though, were often very different things.  Mabel would dream of fantasy like things and could recite word to word of her dreams days later.  Dipper on the other hand, often had dreams that would always seem very important during the dreams but when he woke up it seemed meaningless and he would forget them until something triggered his memory.  Sighing to himself, Dipper got out of the damp bed and quickly pulled his PJs off.  He wasn’t worried that Mabel would wake up as he knew she was a deep sleeper for the most part and he was a quick changer.  Now in some dry clothes, the boy grabbed his hat and put it on to cover his bed head messy hair.  Yawning, Dipper left the room as quietly as possible and went downstairs.

Walking into the kitchen, Dipper wasn’t too surprised to see Grunkle Stan in the kitchen.  The man was still in his sleepwear, which consisted of boxers and a wife beater, as he drank deeply from a mug of coffee.  The man raised an eyebrow as Dipper walked in.

  
“Hey kid, you’re up early.”  Stan spoke with a much gruffer voice then normal; he must have just woken up as well.

  
Dipper, still feeling the effects of sleep, mumbled tiredly as he opened the fridge and quickly grabbed some orange juice and poured himself a glass.  Sitting down at the table and taking a sip, Dipper was pleasantly surprised to find that the juice wasn’t the cheap knock off that had a horrible burning aftertaste.  Mabel must have convinced Stan to buy the good stuff when she had last gone shopping with him.  Mentally thanking his sister, Dipper quickly drained the cup before getting it up and putting it in the sink.

  
“I’m gonna go out for a bit, okay Grunkle Stan?”  Dipper was already heading for the front door, but he paused in the doorway of the kitchen to make sure that the old man heard him.

  
The conman grunted as he sucked down more of his coffee and Dipper shrugged to himself, figuring that was enough of a response before pausing and grabbing an apple before he headed for the door.

The sun was already peaking over the large trees and birds were chirping loudly as Dipper stepped out of the Mystery Shack and the boy took a deep breath in and let it out with a grin.  The fresh smell of just the forest had been weird to the boy at first but he had grown to love it and the wilderness around it.  Even though he usually took his time taking everything in, Dipper found himself quickly making his way towards the road that would take him to town.

He wasn’t too concerned about cars or anything as he walked in the middle of the road.  Not very many townspeople headed this way, only buses filled with tourists who Grunkle Stan would ripped off but even then Dipper would have more than enough time to get out of the way if needed.  Soon enough, the dirt road met asphalt as he hit a main road.  Dipper quickly crossed, knowing that this was a busier road then the dirt path, before walking on the edge of the road towards town.  Once in town, he cut through the nearby church’s lawn and made his way into the town square where very few people were there, so Dipper went over to the statue of Nathaniel Northwest and sat on the ledge.

  
Looking around as he bit into his apple, Dipper sat up suddenly when he saw a sudden mop of blond hair, only for his shoulders to sink again as he realized that the person wasn’t who he thought it would be; that it hadn’t been Bill.

  
Sighing a little, Dipper mentally smacked himself for getting so worked up over nothing.

  
“It’s really early anyway,” Dipper mumbled to himself as he chewed on his piece of apple and then swallowed it. “We never did set a time so he might not even come until later.”

  
Was he really going to sit here all day just hoping to meet up with some guy who might not even show up?  The sad truth was yes; yes he was.  Finishing his apple, Dipper got up to throw the core away in a nearby trash can and when he turned, the boy got a sudden scare as Bill was suddenly standing in front of him.

  
“Wah!” Dipper cried out, jumping nearly a foot in the air.

  
Bill let out a large laugh, not bothering to hide his amusement in anyway.

  
“Bill! Where did you come from? Why do you always like to come up behind me?” Again, Dipper was glaring at the now snickering man.

  
Grin larger than life, Bill spoke with a smug tone. “Aw, but you’re just so easy to scare Pine Tree!”  Bill shifted and put a hand on his hip as he looked down at the kid.  “I wasn’t expecting you to be here so early though…What are you doing up so early?”

  
Dipper shrugged before heading back to the ledge of the statue and sitting down; Bill following his lead and sitting down next to him.

  
“I woke up early and just decided to come to town.  I didn’t think you’d be here this early though…”

  
“Aw,” The man cooed at the boy, “You were waiting for me?  How sweet!”

  
Dipper’s face burned and he scowled a bit.

  
“Well you said we’d meet here so I just figured since I was awake,” Dipper shrugged, feeling awkward and embarrassed.

  
Bill’s chuckles died down and he nudged Dipper’s knee with his own, causing the boy to look up.  The man gave a smile at him and Dipper’s scowl turned into a small smile in return.

  
“So what are you doing out so early?”

  
“Well,” Bill stretched his long legs out in front of him and Dipper mimicked him; looking in awe as how short his legs were compared to the blond haired man. “I told you that I’ve been gone from Gravity Falls for a while right? Well, I’ve been getting my stuff all sorted out and getting rid of pests that have been infesting my home since I’ve been gone.”  The man grinned impishly as he saw what Dipper was doing and the boy immediately put his legs down and tried not to blush.

  
“Oh, so do you live here in town?”  Dipper folded one of his legs under the other so his leg rested on his ankle.

  
“More on the outskirts really.  It’s a bit on an off road in the woods.  Close enough that I can get to town easily but far enough away that I can get some privacy.” Bill pursed his lips and rested his chin in his palm.  “I really need to get rid of that big pest in my house.  It moved in and acts like it owns the place. But oh well; I’ll get rid of it somehow.”

Bill spoke in a cheerful voice, but Dipper’s curiosity was being prodded.

  
“What kind of creature moved into your house?  Squirrels?  Raccoons?  Or…”  Dipper’s voice lowered as leaned forward and looked around wildly; in case someone was listening in.  Deciding to humor him, Bill moved his face closer when the other beckoned.

“Is it a creature?  Like a monster?”  Dipper looked at Bill with searching and eager eyes.  The boy looked so eager in fact, that Bill almost contemplating lying to him.  In the end, he decided a bit of teasing was better than straight out brutal honesty, or brutal lying, in either case. 

  
“Hmm…” Turning his open palm that had been holding his chin upright into a fist, Bill tipped his head side to side in mock concentration.  “Could it be…the legendary…”

  
“Yes? What is it, what is it?!?”  Dipper was now on his knees, bouncing with excitement.

  
Unable to hold it together any longer, Bill let out a snort of laughter and slapped his knee in amusement.

  
“Whoo!  I actually had you going Pine Tree!  Oh man, you were so excited I thought you were gonna wet your pants.”

  
Dipper’s face flushed red, and this time not just with embarrassment.  Anger radiated off Dipper, making Bill lessen his chuckles a bit.  The boy got up and quickly shifted his body to stomp away from Bill but the man reached out and easily grabbed Dipper by the elbow.

  
“Let go!”  Dipper tried to pull away but the strange man had a surprisingly, or really not so surprisingly, strong grip.

  
“No. You’re angry.  I won’t let you go until you tell me why you’re so upset.”

  
Strangely enough, when Dipper turned to glare at Bill in the face, the man actually looked confused.  How could he not understand?

  
“I don’t want to talk to you; you’re a jerk.”

  
Bill scoffed.  “And you’re just getting this now?”

  
Instead of making Dipper laugh, it just seemed to make the boy even more upset.

  
“Why even bother to talk to me and even get my hopes up that someone believes me if you’re just gonna laugh in my face about it.”  Dipper pulled his arm away from Bill and the man let him; too surprised to hold on to him.  The boy didn’t run away, but he just folded his arms and looked at the ground, biting his lip and his eyes suspiciously wet looking. 

  
“That’s just…cruel.”

  
Letting out a small sigh, Bill took Dipper’s elbow again and gently navigated him back to sitting next to him.

  
“Listen, Dipper, I never meant to make it seem like I was laughing at you like that.  Well, I kinda was laughing at how excited you get about the stuff like that, but I didn’t mean it in a mean way per say.  I was just, y’know, laughing.  It’s not like I don’t believe you and besides; if I didn’t like you, there was no way I would just hang around.  Even if I wanted to make fun of you like you thought, that would be way too exhausting for me.”

  
Looking at the blond haired man in confusing lined with a little bit of hope, the boy spoke: “So why do you even like me anyway?  We’ve only met a couple of times so far, so why do you say you like me?  In a strange place like this, there has got to be someone who is more interesting hasn’t there?”

  
“Ah, but that’s where you’re wrong!”  With his one eye drooping halfway and his grin quickly resembling a Cheshire grin, Bill gave what seemed like an easy answer:  “I like you because you’re different!”

  
“Because I’m different?  How is that an answer?”  Dipper asked, confused.

  
“Well you see, everyone knows that here in Gravity Falls strange things happen.  Teens and kids are the most likely to see the mystical creatures face to face.  I’m not sure why but they are just like the bug zapper to the fly that is the supernatural.  Except, well, it’s usually the kids that go bzzt instead of the supernatural.”  Bill licked his lips as pursed his lips in thought before speaking again.

  
“But as kids grow older either their own parents or they tell themselves that what they experienced wasn’t real.  So the adults become blind until it smacks them in the face.  Even then they’ll find some way to pretend it didn’t happen or that there is some kind of way to explain it away; Like swamp gas and reflections in the sky or something.”

  
Bill glanced at Dipper, who was looking at him with wide eyes and an eager for more expression on his face.

  
“Sometimes,” He spoke softly, making Dipper lean in closer to hear, “Sometimes even the children forget.  It’s too much for their simple children minds so they push it all out.  They block it away.  But the fear is still there; the wariness of the woods.  They never get too close as they instinctively know not to go any farther.  I wonder…will even you forget someday?”

  
The silence between them was stifling as Dipper clenched his shorts tightly in his fists.

  
“No.” He spoke with a firm tone.  Looking up at Bill, he gave the man an equally, if not more, firm look.  “I won’t ever forget this summer, or even what Gravity Falls is really about.  I won’t.”

  
Bill gave Dipper a small, somewhat tired looking, smile.  “Oh really?  That’s a pretty big statement coming from someone who isn’t even a teen yet.” 

The blond haired man leaned forward, his faces so close to Dipper’s that the boy could just feel the heat radiating off the man.  Bill’s black eye bore into him, as if just goading the boy to prove himself.  Being so close to the man made the boy shift slightly, until Bill moved his hand to rest on the cement behind his back.  That action instead made the boy freeze up.

  
“Can you really go around making a promise like that?  How can you be so sure?”

  
“W-well,” Dipper coughed, “I won’t forget it no matter what!  Too much has happened to forget!  Besides, I’ll never want to forget anything about this place.”

  
Leaning back and giving the much needed space back to Dipper, Bill looked at the kid in front of him considering.

  
“Hmm…Alright then!  How about a promise?  You promise never to forget about your summer here in Gravity Falls and all the amazing things it holds.”  A grin grew on Bill’s face, “And you promise never to forget about me either.”  He added with a wink from his one eye.

  
Dipper rolled his eyes. 

  
“Trust me,” He spoke with a rather dry tone, “I don’t think I’ll ever be able to forget you.”

  
Instead of being offended or anything, the man just let out a sharp barking laugh.

  
“I would hope not!  Now, we have to make this promise official!” 

  
Bill suddenly held his hand out to Dipper, who just stared in confusion, as he had held his pinky out instead.

  
“Oh!” Bill let out softly.  The man chuckled and for a moment Dipper thought he saw the man’s cheeks become red, if only for a second.  “That’s the wrong kind of shake isn’t it?  You do promises with your pinkies…right.”

  
Wrapping their small fingers around each other, the man and barely a teen gave a firm, single shake.  They pulled away and as they did, Dipper rubbed his hand.  The feeling of a dulled burning sensation wrapped around his small finger to completely around his hand.  But just as quickly it was there, it vanished.  Dipper just shrugged and figured that he had imagined it.  Looking back at the strange man, he saw a strange expression on his face.

It was somewhat goofy, as the grin on his face stretched cheek to cheek.  Bill seemed very pleased, but when he saw Dipper looking his grin became a smirk before he stuck his tongue out. Dipper stuck his own tongue out back at the other, which then proceed to start a face off to see who could make the weirdest faces.

After the two were finished giggling over the faces they made, they sat in a rather comfortable silence.  But the silence didn’t last for long as Bill had a question burning his tongue.

  
“How can you be so sure though?  How do you know that you’ll never forget?”  He eyed Dipper critically, his curiosity filling him.  “Tell me.” He demanded.

At the look Dipper gave him, Bill rolled his eyes and let out a small groan.  “ _Please_.”

  
“Well, I mean, there are others adults who haven’t forgotten right? There has to be!  Besides, you’re an adult and you know about all this stuff.  So as long as I’m like you, I won’t forget!”  Dipper grinned widely, only to stop when he saw the blank look on Bill’s face.

  
“Bill?  How come you didn’t forget?”

  
The blond haired mystery sat silent for a while and Dipper fidgeted, wondering if he had asked the wrong question.  He was about to speak up and say that Bill didn’t have to tell him anything when Bill started to talk.

  
“I-I don’t feel like getting into it today at least, but I have a painful enough reason to not forget.”  Bill gave the boy a grin that was mostly teeth and almost, if not completely, feral looking.

  
Dipper took a quick glance at where he knew the medical eye patch was taped to Bill’s face but was unable to clearly see it through the bangs that covered it.  Looking away and closing his mouth, Dipper was successfully able to push back any questions that might have been hurtful.  He was glad that Mabel wasn’t with him as she would’ve just blurted out the first question in her head.

  
“W-Well, hey, don’t you have stories about Gravity Falls right?  Can you tell me about some?”  Dipper asked, eager to change fake looking half grin on the man’s face.

  
Bill’s face lit up into an eager look and Dipper was happy to see all traces of the dark look on his face were gone.

  
“Oooh story time!  I love that idea!  Oh where should I start?”  The man screwed up his face as he tried to think of where would be a good starting place. 

  
As he was doing so, Dipper reached into to his pocket to grab his notebook to write down any facts Bill might give him.  He froze though when he felt the familiar cover of Journal Number Three. ‘Trust No One!’; a mantra that shouted itself in his brain.  While he might be becoming friends with this man, he knew he was nowhere near trusting him with this kind of secret.

  
“Um,” Dipper stood up suddenly, pulling Bill out of his thoughts.  “I’ll be right back! I realize that I forgot my notebook back at my house so I’m going to go get it! Then you can tell me all your stories and I can write them down for future info!” 

  
Even as he started to take a few steps backwards, Dipper hesitated. 

 

“You’ll be here when I get back right?”

  
Bill just gave a grin.

  
“Missing me already Pine Tree?  I’m touched!  I’ll wait for you forever darlin’!”  Bill let out a horrible southern accent that made Dipper both blush and stick his tongue out in disgust.

  
“Ew, I stand by my previous statement: You’re weird!”

  
Laughing, Bill waved him off.

  
“Go!  Go get your notebook.  I’ll be here when you get back.  Probably.”  Snickering slightly, Bill waved Dipper goodbye as the boy turned and ran back towards the path towards the Mystery Shack.  As soon as Dipper was gone though, his hand fell and the demon sighed.  Blowing the bangs that covered his lack-of-an-eye, Bill closed his eye and began to count as he felt Dipper’s life energy get farther and farther away.

  
**  
XxXxXxXx **

****

**  
**When Dipper ran into the Mystery Shack, he was stopped by Mabel who was in the living room with Grunkle Stan, and Waddles, watching TV.  Stan was cheering for the guy on the TV with a big grin and the pet pig was eating some kind of snack that Mabel was sharing with him.

  
“Dipper, there you are!  Come here and watch some good old quality television with us! And eat some chipackerz! They are chip-flavored crackers!”  She waved the mentioned junk food in her hand wildly at her brother.

  
The boy opened his mouth to speak when Soos suddenly came running in from the outside, breathing heavily.

  
“Hey dude,” Soos said to Dipper before quickly turning to Grunkle Stan. “Mr. Pines, we got tourists at nine-o’clock!  It’s a whole busload of ‘em!”

  
Stan jumped up, accidently knocking Mabel forward and making her spill her box of chipackerz all across the ground; something Waddles quickly took care of for her.

  
“Quick Pines Family: Scamming Stations!”  Stan quickly ran into the hall towards the laundry room where his suit and pants where currently hanging.  While everyone else quickly ran to the shop part of the Mystery Shack, Dipper followed after his Grunkle Stan.

  
Standing in the doorway of the laundry room, Dipper found Stan already in his dress shirt with the suit jacket already on but unbuttoned.  He was jumping on one leg as he attempted to put on his pants.

  
“Um, Grunkle Stan,” Dipper started but was interrupted as Stan quickly finished putting his pants on and pushed him out of the way and towards the front of the store.

  
“Not now Dipper, we got to get ready.  Now come on, go to the front of the store and stop standing around and get to work.”

  
Dipper had no chance to talk as he was quickly pushed towards the front of the store and Stan hurried past him to the windows to look out at the tourists that were coming in.  He yelled at Soos to make new attractions and for Wendy to mark up prices.  Dipper opened his mouth to say remark about his Grand-Uncle’s money scheming ways, but decided not to with hope that maybe he could slip out and up to the attic to grab his notebook.  Maybe if these tourists were quick, he could run back to town and Bill wouldn’t have to wait for a long time…If he was even still waiting by the end of this.

  
“Dipper!”  Stan’s voice broke the boy from his thoughts.  “Clean up on the front lawn!”

  
The boy let out a heavy sigh but grabbed a nearby mop and bucket anyway because he knew that he wouldn’t win against Grunkle Stan.

  
It wasn’t long after he had just cleaned the sick off the lawn that Grunkle Stan had quickly grabbed him by the collar of his vest and pulled him inside.  He threw a costume at him and told his nephew to put them on.

  
“Uh, Grunkle Stan, why isn’t there a top to this?”  Dipper asked as he slipped on the pants and looked the fake ears with a look of disgust.

  
“Because it’s part of attraction kid!  Just put those ears on,” Stan grabbed the fake ears and pushed them onto Dipper’s head and quickly guided him to a spot, “And stay right here.  You’ll do your bit when I get to you in the tour.”

  
“But-!”

  
Dipper was unable to say anything else as Stan lowered a curtain to block him from view. The boy let out a soft groan and fiddled with the itchy pants for a while.  Part of him contemplating just leaving and running away from this embarrassing situation, but that would only cause more trouble for himself later.  It wasn’t long before the boy heard his Grand-Uncle’s voice through the curtain.  Along with the ‘Oohs’ and ‘Aahs’ of the tourists, Dipper could hear the clicking and whirling of cameras and he swallowed nervously.  Looking down at his costume, Dipper put a arm over his chest and held his other arm firmly and fiddled with the fake teeth a bit with his tongue.

  
Only half listening to Stan’s slightly muffled speech, Dipper blinked a bit when the curtains were suddenly drawn back and he was facing a crowd of tourists.

  
“-Preteen wolf boy!”  Dipper managed to catch the end of Stan’s exclamation but just cringed slightly instead.

  
“Grunkle Stan,” Dipper said as he took out the fake teeth, “This is demeaning.”

  
“What!”  The con man shouted, “I don’t know the _de-meaning_ of that word!”

Stan and the crowd laughed and Dipper did his best not to roll his eyes or groan at the horribleness of it all.  After a moment or two, Stan turned towards the nearest guy in the crowd and spoke.

  
“If you throw money at him, he dances.”

  
Dipper yelped as money was suddenly thrown at him and in return, he did some half-hearted attempt at dancing.  Screw getting annoyed; Dipper was trying his best not to cry.

  
** XxXxXxXx **

**  
**  
Dipper finally had time to breathe and collect himself as there was going to be a thirty minute break until the next tour.  Stan had left to go check to see how Mabel was running the store and Dipper slipped into the employees’ only part of the store to grab some water from the fridge.  After draining it, Dipper hesitantly walked out into the store front.  Seeing Stan talking to Mabel though, he quickly made his way over.

  
“Grunkle Stan, why do I have to wear this wolf costume?  I think I’m getting hookworm.”

  
Stan chuckled.  “Yeah, gluing dog hair to your body will do that.”

  
“You have all these dumb fake exhibits in the shack.  Meanwhile, I’ve seen actual amazing things in the forest everyday!  What if you hunted down a real attraction, instead of lying to people for a living?”

  
“And you should be nicer to your employees too!”  Mabel added in, poking Stan.

  
“Yeah!”

  
The two high-fived and Stan gave them a look that conveyed he wasn’t impressed at all.

  
“Fine.  If you two have a problem with how I run the shack, take it up with the complaints department- ZING!”  Stan held up a trash can and laughed.

  
There was a beat of silence until:

  
“I am going to write them such a letter!”  Mabel started scribbling on a piece of paper and Dipper just stared at her.

 

After explaining to Mabel that there wasn’t really a complaint department, which seemed to infuriate her even more, the two were called over by Grunkle Stan.

  
“Dipper, go change into your regular clothes-”

  
“YES!  Thank you Grunkle Stan!”

  
“-And put this on over it.”  Stan finished, throwing Dipper a pair of overalls.  “You too Mabel.”

  
“Overalls?  What do we need these for?”  She gasped.  “Are we going to for a hillbilly band?  I claim the banjo!”

  
“What? No!  We’re going to be painting…Or rather, you guys are going to be painting.  Wendy is back from the store with the paint I had her get.  You two, Soos, and Wendy are gonna paint the sign for me to attract more tourists!  Now hurry up and get changed.”

  
Stan stalked off, leaving the twins alone.

  
“I wonder how this is going to go.”  Dipper groused.

  
“Look on the bright side Dip,” Mabel smiled cheerfully.  “You get out of that horrible costume and we get to paint!  There is nothing like arts and crafts to soothe the weary soul.”

  
The girl took a deep calming breath and kept it in for just a moment before she jumped up and clapped like a seal.

  
“Come on!  Painting will be fun, I’m sure!”

  
** XxXxXxXx **

****

Mabel was wrong; it had been horrible.  Every part of his body was sore and all Dipper wanted to do was go to sleep for a good twelve hours.  He was planning on doing just that, but first he had to finish up cleaning.  After they had finished painting, everyone went their separate ways. 

Mabel had stormed into the shack towards Stan’s office, hot on the man’s heels. Wendy had already gone home and Soos was who knows where but he was still most likely somewhere in the shack.  Dipper was sweeping a bit when Stan and Mabel walked by and out the front door.  Interestingly enough, Stan was wearing a tacky Hawaiian shirt and carrying some luggage with him.  Dipper slid close enough to the door, but stayed out of sight incase Stan decided to assign some other kind of chore to him.

The boy could only watch with an open mouth and disbelief as he watched Stan throw his fez onto Mabel’s head before driving away.  Setting the broom against the wall, Dipper stepped out onto the porch.

  
“Mabel, did you just make a bet with a professional con man?”

  
“Oh come on, being a better boss then Stan will be a cinch!  Profit, here we come!”

  
The glass jar which Mabel had been holding then slipped from her hands and promptly shattered on the ground.

  
“You broke the jar.”

  
“We’ll get a new one.”

  
Sighing, Dipper turned and picked the broom back up and began to sweep up the broken glass up carefully.  Mabel ran back inside to the shack before running back out with a pan and an empty pan.  She gave Dipper a sheepish smile which he returned.  Together they cleaned up the mess and threw the bag away.  They closed up for the night.  Mabel headed towards the kitchen while Dipper started to make his way upstairs to go to bed.  Halfway up the stairs Dipper was shrugging off his vest and folding it against his chest before realizing that Journal 3 was still in there.

  
Suddenly seeing it reminded him of just what he had been doing before the work had taken over for the day.  Gasping in shock, Dipper pulled his vest back on and ran down the stairs.

  
“Mabel!”  Dipper called, pausing for only a moment at the door, “I have to go out I’ll be back!”

  
“What?”  She yelled back.  When she walked out to see what Dipper had said, it was too late as her brother was already out and taking off down the path to town.

  
Crossing the road quickly and cutting through the yard past the church, Dipper made it to the statue.  There were a few people hanging around, mostly teenagers and such, but Bill was nowhere in sight.  Dipper felt his heart sink.

  
‘Well of course he wasn’t going to still be here.’  Dipper mentally scolded himself.  ‘It’s been hours since I saw I left.  I’m sure he had other things to do.’

  
“Maybe…”  Dipper whispered, unknowingly to himself speaking aloud.  “Maybe he’ll be here tomorrow.”

  
So Dipper left, feeling like a weight was heavy in his stomach, making it harder to move.  He walked back to the Shack and gave a half excuse to Mabel when she asked him where he had gone to.  Telling her that he was tired, Dipper went to bed and Mabel just shrugged and let him go. 

  
Falling onto his now dry bed, Dipper was asleep before his head even hit the pillow.

 

  
** XxXxXxXx **

****

**  
**When he woke up the next morning, Dipper was feeling much better.  A good sleep had benefitted him greatly and his body didn’t even feel sore anymore!  He didn’t have any weird dreams that he knew of, so that was wonderful too.  Looking across the room, Dipper was surprised to find that Mabel’s bed was empty.  Shrugging, Dipper got up, dressed, and headed out of the attic.  Just as he was about to go down to the bottom floor, noise from Grunkle Stan’s office stopped him.  Confused, and a little weary, Dipper headed towards the office and listened carefully at the door.

He could hear someone, or something, moving around loud and annoying noises.  He recognized those noises though so he began to open the door.

  
“Mabel, what are you-” Dipper was cut off as suddenly something slammed the door shut from the other side.  “Hey!”  He jiggled the door more, trying to get in.

  
“Dipper stop!”  Mabel’s voice came from the other side of the door, making Dipper pause.  “You can’t come in!”

  
“What?”  Dipper felt a surprising jolt of hurt that made him blink in shock.  “Why not?”

  
“Because I’m remodeling Stan’s office to fit the new boss’ great and fit attitude.”  She said.

  
There was an awkward pause.

  
“That’s me!” She clarified, “But I can’t let you in just yet!  I’m almost done and until then no one is allowed in!”

  
There was a oinking from behind the door and Dipper heard his sister giggle.

  
“Besides Waddles of course!  He’s my secretary.”

  
Letting out a small groan, Dipper turned away from the door feeling a bit annoyed. 

  
“Fine.  I’m going to eat breakfast.”

  
“Okay!  After you’re done, tell Soos and Wendy that I’ll be ready for you guys after so try and hurry…Also, can you bring me some cereal? Please?”

  
“Alright; after I eat.”  Dipper replied, already walking away.

  
“Thank you!”

  
Dipper ate his cereal before bringing his sister a bowl, a spoon, a box of her favorite cereal, and the carton of milk and pushing it through the crack of the door because Mabel refused to open the door anymore than that.  After a while of hanging downstairs and half heartily cleaning the kitchen, which consisted of mostly throwing the bowl he had used in the sink and putting warm water in it, Soos and Wendy showed up.

Feeling a mix of curiosity and foreboding, the preteen walked with the two older employees by his side upstairs and towards what had once been Grunkle Stan’s office.  Knowing his sister, Dipper could only imagine what she had done to their Grand Uncle’s poor office.

He wasn’t disappointed.

  
** XxXxXxXx **

**  
**Okay, so maybe he had been a little overzealous.  But really, could anyone fault him?  Perhaps jumping out the window with a mace which he could barely lift and going into the woods to find a mystical and/or supernatural creature wasn’t the best idea.  But his enthusiasm was something to be admired right?

  
Dipper groaned and rested his back against a nearby tree and dropping the mace and giving up on it.  He was already panting and sweating from carrying the thing around and Dipper took off his hat and tried to fan himself off with it.  Taking the journal out from the inside pocket of his vest, Dipper flipped through the pages, not really knowing what he was looking for.  He needed something big, something that would shock the socks off the tourists but just what could he do?  If he got something too big, how would be manage to get it back?  Sure he had the intellect to put it in a trap, but not Mabel’s strength to bring it back; Dipper knew and accepts that.  He was already feeling tired from just carrying that heavy weapon around so what could he do?

  
Groaning to himself, Dipper wished that there was someone else he could ask to back him up but who could he?  Mabel was busy running the shop, Soos was busy doing whatever Mabel had him doing, and he couldn’t ask Wendy.  He just knew that she would think that he was lame for needing help like that.  The creeping doubt that he had bitten off more than he could chew began to fill him.  He had never tried to actually _capture_ one of the monsters of the woods before.  Could he actually do it?  He didn’t have a choice, Dipper realized to himself.

  
He _had_ to get something amazing or else Mabel’s faith in him would be for nothing.  She would be so disappointed if he didn’t come back with the best creature he could find.  Plus, he’d get to rub it in Stan’s face, which was looking pretty sweet at the moment.  So what could he do?

  
Suddenly an idea came to Dipper’s mind and he gasped with surprise, and a bit of relief if he was honest with himself.  Bill!  Bill had said he knew about the creatures that lived in the forest around Gravity Falls and that he had lived here for a long time, so who else was batter to have as a hunting partner? 

Leaving the mace where it lay, Dipper took off running towards the main road.  It took longer than it usually did to reach it, considering the fact he had begun to wade into the woods before he had stopped.  He only paused for a moment to look both ways for any oncoming vehicles before bolting across and towards the way the town square.  Dipper slowed and panted heavily as he finally reached the town square.  Looking around as he wiped some sweat off of his forehead, Dipper could feel his heart jump with relief as he saw a familiar head of blond hair that was longer on one side of the face.  Feeling a sudden boost of energy, Dipper ran towards the man with that renewed enthusiasm.

  
“Bill!”

  
The man looked up from something that he had been fiddling with in his hand, something small, a handheld watch perhaps?, before putting it away and smiling widely as Dipper ran towards him.  Bill stood from the edge of the Nathanial Northwest statue and his smile only growing wider the closer Dipper got.

  
“Pine Tree!  You’re back!  I got worried when you didn’t-Whoa, careful now!”

  
Dipper had tripped slightly, nearly falling forward on his face but was saved when Bill reached out and grabbed Dipper by the wrists and held him up.

  
“T-Thanks!”  The boy panted, still trying to catch his breath.  Looking around, Dipper was glad to see that no one seemed to notice what would’ve been a bad fall.  “That would’ve been embarrassing.” 

 

“So glad that I could help kid!  Now, what happened to you yesterday?  I waited for you for a long time!”  Bill pouted.

  
At any other time Dipper would’ve laughed at such an expression on an adult’s face, or cringe at least, but instead it filled him with guilt.

  
“I’m so sorry!  As soon as I got back to the shack a never ending busload of tourists showed up and I didn’t get to come back until very late.”  Dipper’s mouth moved in a way that suggested that the boy was going to ramble on with even more apologizes but Bill quickly covered his mouth with his hand.

  
“Stop.”  Bill spoke with a firm voice.  “Enough of that.  You apologized and you even had a good reason to boot.  So I’ll let you off…this time!”   Bill gave a grin to show that he was teasing and Dipper moved the man’s hand from his face to grin back.

  
“I’m glad.”  The boy sighed with relief, feeling the weight in his stomach just float away.

  
“Well,” Bill put his hands on his hips, gave Dipper a measuring look.  “What are we going to do today Dipper?  Are we gonna continue our talk about the creatures around here?”

  
Dipper gave a face splitting grin, making Bill raise an eyebrow.

  
“Nope!  Actually, I’m going to go hunting for something to show off to the tourists!  My Grunkle Stan is gone for a couple days and I get to show the tourists a real creature!”

  
“Oh really?”  Bill’s stance turned to one filled with intrigue.  “So what are you hunting?”

  
The brunette faltered a bit.

  
“Er, well, to be honest…I’m not sure yet.  I need to find something big and really impressive soon because I need to show it off to the tourists to let them see what a real attraction is; not like those fakes that Stan shows off.”

 

“Something big and impressive huh…Stay here real quick!”  Bill turned and ran towards one of the nearby shops, a hardware shop from what Dipper could tell.

  
After a bit of waiting, in which Dipper sat down on the edge of the statue and begun trying to think up ways to get whatever creature he found to come back to the shack with him.  More likely than not, it would put up a fight.  Hearing the running of feet, Dipper looked up and saw Bill running towards him with what seemed to be the largest bag Dipper had ever seen in his hand.

  
“Here we go P.T.!  I got the largest and strongest bag I could find and guess what else?  Rope!  Lots and lots of rope!”  The blond haired man held open the bag so Dipper could see the rope inside and the boy grinned widely.

  
“Thanks Bill!  This will help me a lot!”  Dipper made to take the bag but Bill pulled his hand back.  Dipper looked at Bill with a confusion to see a look of mild annoyance on the man’s face.

  
“You don’t think you’re going alone do you?  No way!  Plus you wanted to talk about the monsters but this is even better don’t you think?”

  
Dipper’s jaw dropped in surprise and he was going to say something in the negative about the whole situation, but instead of finding himself hating the idea of Bill coming with him, he was excited and relieved.  Who else would be better to help him then someone who had lived in Gravity Falls before and believed in the creatures of the forest?  Plus it didn’t hurt that Bill was stronger than Dipper.  The kid grinned and gave a little hop of excitement, much to the man’s amusement.

  
“Okay!  Great, let’s go then!”  Without waiting, Dipper turned and began running back towards the woods near the Mystery Shack.  Bill let out a yelp of surprise and chased after him and keeping up with the boy easily with his much longer legs.  They only stopped momentarily when they came to the main road that Dipper had crossed before where they squabbled and looked both ways.  (“Hold my hand Pine Tree!” “What? No way!” “You have to hold someone’s hand when you cross the road!  It’s a national law!” “Says who?” “Says President Quentin Trembley!” “What!?!”)

  
Soon they made it into the woods and Bill was leading while Dipper began to straggle behind a bit purposely.  Seeing that Bill was a bit ahead, he turned his back and pulled out the journal and began to flip through it quickly in hopes to find something.  Finally coming across a picture of a big and scary looking creature, something Dipper knew that would be much better exhibit then anything Grunkle Stan had put up.  Dipper was only able to read the name of the creature before suddenly, Bill was behind him.

  
“What do you got there kid?”

  
“AHH!” Dipper screamed in surprise, making Bill jump back and look at him with a wide eye.

  
“Whoa, sorry about that Pine Tree.”  Bill let out an awkward laugh and half a grin.  “I didn’t mean to scare you.  I was just wondering why you weren’t following me.  You know it’s dangerous to get lost in these woods by yourself.”

  
“Y-yeah…”  Dipper didn’t move from his spot that he stood ridged in, not moving the journal from behind his back.

  
“So…”  Bill looked at the other male, waiting.  When he didn’t get an answer, he gave Dipper a pointed look.

  
“So…What?”  Dipper could feel sweat begin to go down the side of his face.  The mantra of “Tell No One!” flashed through his mind yet again like the previous day. 

  
“So what do you have behind your back?”

  
“W-what?  Nothing is behind my back!  I don’t know what you’re talking about!”  Dipper’s eyes shifted slightly and Bill gave the boy a rather disbelieving look.

  
“Uh huh…”

  
Bill and Dipper faced off; one looking increasingly nervous and the other looking rather blank faced.  Just as Dipper was sure he was going to say or do something that could jeopardize the journal’s safety, Bill rocked back on his heels and laughed.

  
“Whatever it is, keep it to yourself if you don’t feel like sharing.  Everyone has secrets and it wouldn’t be right of me to force you to share it, would it?”  Bill gave a huge toothy grin before turning and walking deeper into the woods.  “Come on and keep up though!  I don’t want to lose you in here!”

  
Dipper just blinked in surprise but finally let out a sigh of relief.  Smiling a little to himself, the boy slid his journal back into his vest and hurried after the man.

  
“Any ideas on what you want to find?  Besides, of course, the fact that it needs to be big and impressive?”  Bill looked down at the boy for a moment before staring back in front of them.  He watched the area around them with a seemingly sharp eye for details.

  
Dipper just watched the man for a bit in awe.  Just the way Bill held himself screamed confidence and he was seemingly at ease in the woods, where even though Dipper himself spent much of his time, he still found himself looking around nervously at times.

  
“Kid?”

  
“Oh! Um,” Dipper quickly remembered the name of the creature’s picture he had been looking at before Bill had surprised him.  “I think a gremloblin will show the tourists a good time.”

  
Bill choked on laughter.  “You might want to rephrase that.”

  
“Huh?”

  
Instead of explaining, Bill just shook his head with a snicker before letting out a small whistle.

  
“Wow kid, when you go to play, you play hardball huh?  So a gremlobin huh…they usually reside a bit deeper into the forest and they can be pretty fierce.  Are you sure you want one?”  Seeing Dipper’s determined face, Bill smirked.  “You’re determined, that’s good.  You’re gonna need that determination.  Now follow me some more!”  Hurrying ahead, Bill had to slow down a bit when he realized that Dipper wasn’t keeping up as well as he hoped.

  
The farther they went into the woods, the darker it became and Bill came to a stop along with Dipper behind him.  The boy was wheezing a bit and the man clicked his tongue.

  
“Geeze kid, you need to work out more.”  Bill stifled a giggle at the glare Dipper sent his way-so cute!-but managed to mask it with a well placed cough.  “Well, we’re going to have to be careful now that we’re deeper in.  There are lots of dangerous creatures; not just your gremloblins.  So be quiet and stick close.”

  
The two traveled in silence; Dipper took Bill’s word to heart and took carefully light steps and only let out soft breathing.  It was dark in the woods now and Dipper shivered as a feeling of déjà vu came over him but for the life of himself, he couldn’t remember why.  Suddenly Bill stopped and Dipper would’ve run right into him if Bill hadn’t held his hand out to stop him as if anticipating that would happen.

With a finger to his lips, Bill crouched down behind a nearby thick tree and pointed towards a nearby creek.  Dipper peered around Bill and the tree and gasped loudly; something that made Bill slap a hand over his mouth but it was too late.

  
A giant figure which had been drinking water from the creek out of its cupped hands suddenly stood up and turned towards them.  Its red eyes simply glowed in the shade of the forest.  It was easy to understand now why Bill had wanted him to be quiet.  The gremloblin’s ears were huge and obviously it had excellent hearing.  And by the size of its teeth, it could very easily rip them apart.  The large creature stomped forward before taking in a large breath and letting out a humongous roar.  Dipper had to put his hands over his ears and a ringing filled his head.  It was so loud that he almost didn’t hear Bill’s shout for him to run.

  
Seeing the beast coming towards them in a very surprising speed for something its size, Dipper dove to the right out of his way and stumbled as he got up and fell against another tree.  The beast turned away from Bill, who had dove the opposite way from Dipper, and instead turned to what seemed to be the younger and much weaker prey.  Legs shaking, the boy tried to quickly pull away but his vest got stuck on a branch.  The gremloblin, seeing a chance for a snack or even just a punching bag, grabbed Dipper by the back of the vest, pulling him off of the branch he was stuck on, and lifted him into the air.  The beast was looking into Dipper’s eyes, seemingly about to do something horrible, when suddenly a pinecone came flying from behind it and smacked it on the back of the head.  More annoyed than hurt, the gremloblin turned and let out a fierce growl.  Seeing his chance, Dipper forgoes his vest and slipped out of it completely and fell back to the ground.  Moving quicker then he’s even in his life, Dipper moved out of arm’s reach of the creature and behind a nearby tree for safety.  Once he catches his breath, Dipper peaks around the corner and gapes at what he sees.

  
Bill is dodging, though in Dipper’s mind it’s more like he’s doing a mix of martial arts and dancing, out of the gremloblin’s fists.  The man continues to throw whatever he can at the beast: pinecones, rocks, and Dipper thinks he even sees a squirrel go flying once or twice.  The blond haired man seems at ease with a smirk on his face, but when he sees Dipper watching his expression changes to a one of worry.

  
“Dipper, it’s too dangerous!  Get out of here!”

  
“W-what! No way!  I am not leaving you here to face this thing…even though you seem to be perfectly fine.”  Dipper added on the last part as Bill seemed to casually dodge the gremloblin’s claws.  “I’m going to think of something…somehow.” He mumbles to himself.

  
Ideas flow through the boy’s mind as he looks around in hopes of finding something that he could do.  Suddenly he sees it: the large bag and rope that Bill had brought with him.  Suddenly there are so many more possibilities now and Dipper begins to grin as a sense of hope fills him.

  
‘I can do this.’ He thinks to himself, feeling confident.

  
“Bill,” The boy calls out, “Keep it occupied a bit longer, I’ve got an idea!”

  
“No problem!”  Bill calls back, and honestly, it really isn’t one.

  
Grinning widely at the furious creature in front of him, the disguised demon continued his dance.  In what seemed like forever, but what was really only ten or twenty minutes, Bill was growing very bored of the cat and mouse chase and the only thing that kept him from turning this creature into glorified beef on a skewer was the fact that Dipper seemed to have a plan.  Not even a moment later, Dipper came into the clearing and whistled loudly; something that grabbed the creature’s attention, and anger, before wagging his arms side to side quickly.

  
“Hey ugly!  Come get some helpless and weak preteen boy right here!  There is nothing I can do to stop you!”  Without waiting, Dipper turned and took off as he assumed the gremloblin would follow after him.  With a roar, the beast forgot all about the too difficult prey that was Bill, and chased after the much easier prey.

  
“Just what in the world is he planning?!?”  Bill ran after the two, nearly tripping though over Dipper’s discarded vest on the ground.

  
In a moment of quick thinking and spur of the moment, Bill reached for the vest to bring to Dipper.  To his surprise though, he felt something somewhat heavy fall out.  Curious as to what it could be, Bill lifted the vest up and let in a sharp intake when he saw what was lying innocently on the ground underneath.

  
Journal number three.

  
Letting out a hissing exhale, Bill just stared at the book.  Dipper had the book.  That…explained a lot actually.  After a moment of mentally calming himself, Bill reached for the book.

  
  
** XxXxXxXx **

****

**  
**Dipper let out a whooping cheer.

  
“It worked!  I can’t believe it worked!  Oh man, I am great! Yes!”

  
The scene of Dipper congratulating himself and a furious gremloblin hanging from a rope trap which was tied to a tree was what Bill ran up to.  Blinking in surprise, Bill let out a low impressed whistle.

  
“Wow, way to go Pine Tree!  You got it with a rope trap?”

  
“Yep!  And Mabel said I wasn’t a real boy scout!  Who needs fancy badges when you have rope? Oh the things you can do with rope!”  Dipper cheered.

  
“Yeah, you can do a lot with rope…but I don’t think you’re supposed to know about those kinds of things just yet.”

  
“Huh?”

  
“Anyway!  So, I take it we’re gonna stuff him in the bag huh?”  Bill looked at the upside down creature who was trying to swing towards them, but was making whimpering sounds as doing so made it seemingly dizzy.

  
“Yeah, but I’m gonna need your help for that.  I don’t think I can stuff it in the bag by myself…Will it even fit.”  Dipper wondered.

  
“Sure it will!”  Bill waved his worries off.  “I got the largest bag possible; just in case.”

  
“Well okay…Help me get the bag as open as possible.”

  
  
The two of them opened the bag’s opening as much as possible before slowly and carefully moved it under the upside down creature, who growled and tried to reach out and grab them.  Luckily, the two pulled away in time though.

  
“So now what do we do?  You know that the moment we try and put the bag over him its gonna fight us with everything it’s got.”  Dipper turned and looked at Bill, who got a thoughtful look over his face.

  
“Here, let me try something.”

  
Walking behind the beast, Bill pushed it and caused it to swing a little in a circle.  Pushing again, and even harder now, the blond haired man watched as the beast began swinging in an even bigger and faster circle.  The growls coming from the creature changed into whimpers and groans as it continued to get dizzier and dizzier.  Bill motioned to Dipper and the kid got ready with the back.  Quickly, as the beast was still dizzy and the momentum was beginning to slow, Bill untied the rope from the tree and let it fall onto the ground and half into the bag.

The boy and the man jumped.  Pushing the creature into the bag and pulling the bag over it, Dipper held the bag close while Bill grabbed what remained of the rope and tied the bag close with it.  The two sighed with relief, though it didn’t last long as gremloblin snarled inside the bag and punched the nearest person, which happened to be Dipper.

  
“Ow!  That hurt!”  Dipper rubbed his arm and backed away from the bag and Bill came over and bent down to look at him.

  
“You alright?”  He asked, touching Dipper’s arm gently.

  
“Yeah, I’m fine!”

  
“Well good.”  Bill stood up and grinned down at the brunette.  “That was a great job Dipper!  You caught him all on your own! Why, you barely even needed me here.”

  
“T-that’s not true!”  Dipper spoke through the pleased flush on his face.  “You helped me find it and you distracted it so I could set up the trap…Plus I got to finally hang out with you a bit.” 

  
Dipper’s face turned even redder and Bill grinned as he grabbed the squirming bag and began to drag it.

  
“Well then, I guess that just means we’ll have to do it again doesn’t it?”

  
“Really?” Dipper’s hope filled voice made Bill chuckle.

  
“Of course!  I enjoyed hunting with you, kid.  So we’ll have to do it again…Maybe not even hunting all the time because that can get pretty dangerous and I wouldn’t want anything to happen to you.”

  
“Psh!”  Dipper gave an over exaggerated wave of the hand.  “This?  Please!  I’ve done much worse!  This is nothing.”

  
“Oh?”

  
“Yeah!  I told you about the gnomes right?”

  
“Wanting to marry your sister?  Became a huge gnome chasing after you and you driving the golf cart?  Yeah.  You mean to tell me there is more like that?”

  
Dipper gave a large grin and began to chatter on about other stories, only stopping once when Bill suddenly remember that he still had Dipper’s slightly torn vest and handing it back to him.  The boy subtly checked to see if the journal was still there and let out a small sigh of relief to find the familiar weight in his pocket.  The boy continued on retelling stories for Bill, who seemed very genuinely interested in them. 

  
“-And I managed to lure him out into the sun and he melted!” Dipper was positively glowing as he recanted the story.

  
“Haha, that was great P.T.!  Now, as much as I wish I could stick around, we’ve made it back to the shack and I have to go.”

  
Blinking, Dipper looked around and was baffled by the fact that they were indeed at the wood’s edge and the Mystery Shack was in view.  It didn’t feel like it had been anytime at all but instead time had just flown by.

  
“You think you can bring it back to the shack?”  Bill asked, handing the bag to Dipper, who hesitantly tried to pull it.

  
“I dunno if I can.  It’s really heavy…Can’t you just bring it into the shack with me?”

  
Bill’s good eye shifted to the shack and then back to Dipper.  He could almost see the hesitation in Bill before he shook his head no.

  
“I really can’t.  You can do it, I know you can.  Just try.”  Bill patted the bag and beast inside growled.

  
Hesitantly trying again, Dipper pulled with all his strength and was surprised to find that the bag actually moved.

  
“I did it!” This time, those cries were filled with surprise.  “I actually moved the bag!”

  
“Good job!  You’re getting stronger each day!  Keep up at it and I’m sure you’ll be all muscles in no time.”  Bill winked…or blinked, Dipper couldn’t tell.  It was hard to tell what was what when only one eye was functional.

  
“Okay, well, I’ll see you later then?  At the same spot?”  Dipper called out as Bill began to walk towards the road to town, cutting through the woods to get there.

  
“Yeah, I’ll meet you at our spot!  If it isn’t tomorrow, then the next day in the morning, okay?”

  
“Okay!”  Dipper waved the man off before shouldering the bag and making his way back towards the shack.

  
Dipper ran up to his sister, who was still wearing those frames and suit with the shoulder pads, and began to speak excitedly.

  
“Mabel, I captured something!”  He let the bag go for a moment to catch his breath. While he may be able to drag the bag around, it was still a lot of work.  “This is going to blow those tourists away!”  He laughed a bit exhaustedly when he was suddenly grabbed by the beast from inside the bag.  Punching and kicking his way to freedom, he gave Mabel thumbs up to show he was okay and he had it totally in control.

  
“Marvelous work valued employee!”  She suddenly gasped.  “Who’s that?”

  
Mabel suddenly ran off towards Soos, who seemed very uncomfortable in his new mascot outfit.  Shrugging to himself, Dipper quickly hurried into the exhibit part of the Mystery Shack with the back in tow.

Looking around for the perfect place to put the new exhibit, Dipper found the giant cage where Grunkle Stan had put Mabel in when she was pretending to be the ‘Wild-Raised Girl’.  (Mabel had enjoyed it because she got to howl and make weird noises and everyone thought it was cute and charming.)

Pushing and shoving the larger than life bag with contents into the cage, Dipper quickly closed and locked the door.  Once he was sure the door was fully and completely locked, Dipper pulled the rope clear and watched as the gremloblin rose and growled menacingly as it saw its new surroundings.  Instead of cowering or being scared, Dipper gave a huge grin.

  
This was going to blow those tourists mind.

  
** XxXxXxXx **

****

So it hadn’t gone as well as Dipper had hoped.  Turns out having a creature that could make people see their deepest nightmares was potentially dangerous and could send them into a catatonic state; who knew?  Plus Mabel had decided to give the gremloblin a break and it destroyed the shack, terrorized the tourists visiting, and drained the battery on the Singing Salmon wall piece.  Thank goodness it had flown out and disappeared.  It wasn’t their problem anymore.

But now, with only seven hours left until Stan got back from his game show, Dipper, Mabel, Soos, and Wendy kicked it up a notch (though the two of them had to get a dress down from a twelve year old before that happened).

Everyone looked deep inside themselves and pulled out the little bit of con artist they had in them made as much money as possible.  Mabel ordered others around, Wendy sold things at high prices, Soos became the attraction he wanted to be, and Dipper got to play the tour guide.

Before he started the tour though, as he stood in his suit and had his hair slicked back and eye patch on one eye, Dipper paused and wondered for a moment.  He carefully moved the eye patch so that it was instead over his left eye; much like a blond haired man.  It was strange, but also kind of cool.  Dipper wondered if it would be insensitive of him if he gave this eye patch to Bill as a gift.

They were all so excited by the overflowing jar of cash but the excitement died when after all the repair fees they only had one dollar left.  Of course, finding out that Stan had won a bunch of money, but then lost it when he missed the magic, please, had been sweet.  And it didn’t hurt that Mabel videotaped Stan doing the ‘Stan Wrong Song’ (written by Mabel!).

It had been a good day.

  
That night, Dipper and Mabel were up in the attic, both sitting on their respective beds.  Mabel was sewing up Dipper’s torn vest for him, something he was very thankful for, and Dipper was going through the journal.

  
“That’s weird.”  He spoke out loud.

  
“What is?” Mabel asked, not looking up from the vest.

  
“I think there are some pages missing.”

  
“Well it is an old book Dipper.  I mean, look how banged up it is.”

  
“No, I mean I think pages that were there when I found the book are missing!”  Dipper looked at his sister, who had finally looked up, with a sense of urgency.  “What if those pages were something important?!?”

  
“Well,” Mabel shrugged, no way as panicked as her brother, “What pages were they?”

  
Dipper opened his mouth to reply but promptly shut it.

  
“I don’t remember.  I still haven’t read over everything completely so I might have been one of the pages that I only skimmed or even skipped completely.”

  
“You?  Skipping an entry?”  Mabel teased.

  
Dipper rolled his eyes but closed his book and slid it under his bed like usual.  He laid down and pulled his covers over himself.

  
“I wonder what happened to them.” He mumbled.

  
“I’m sure it’s fine Dipper.”  Mabel said as she finished her sewing with an upbeat smile.  “It probably wasn’t important anyway.”

  
Getting up, the girl set Dipper’s vest on the back of the chair and her brother smiled in thanks.  Smiling back, Mabel turned off the light and hopped into her own bed.

  
“Goodnight Dip!

  
“Goodnight Mabel.”

  
Dipper’s last thought before he fell asleep were about what could have happened to the pages.

  
** XxXxXxXx **

**  
  
**Bill looked at the pages he had very carefully sliced out of the journal that had been in Dipper’s possession.  He was incredibly lucky; he knew that now.  If Dipper had read these pages more carefully, his entire plan could’ve been out of blown out of the water the moment he introduced himself.  But the kid had never shown any signs that he recognized the name and for that he was thankful.  Holding the papers in his left hand away from himself, Bill brought his right hand closer to the pages.

From Bill’s right hand erupted blue flames which quickly set the pages aflame.  Throwing the pages into the fireplace, he watched to make sure the pages burned away to nothing.  Once they were nothing but ash, Bill sighed deeply and leaned back into the arm chair.  The relaxation didn’t last long though as there was a sudden crash from down below. Letting out an annoyed growl, Bill got up and headed towards the basement.

As soon as he opened the basement door he could smell the fear and anger in the air, but mostly anger.  More angry then scared? Oh no, that simply would not do.  Walking down the stairs, as soon as he hit the basement floor, he turned his eye to the anger filled creature in the corner of the room.  Oh, would you look at that: it had a gun!  Now that was interesting.

  
“Who the hell are you?”  The person, an old man with grey hair that was currently stained a little from blood.  He must have gotten cut when Bill had kicked him down the stairs.  Bill was honestly surprised that the old man could even stand up after taking a tumble down the stairs; he thought older humans were especially weak.  But no, this man was standing and pointing a gun, a shotgun if Bill was right, in his hands and pointed at Bill’s head.  While a bit surprised at the suddenness of the weapon, Bill was nowhere near worried.

  
“What do you want?  Money?  I don’t have anything so you might as well git!”

  
“Tch, I have no need for money for the most part.  But I was looking for a nice house and I actually really liked yours!  You know what they say: location, location, location!”  Grinning easily, Bill paid the gun no mind.

  
“You want my house?”  The man nearly lowered the gun is disbelief before quickly rising it again.  “Well it’s not for sale!”

  
Bill groaned and rolled his eyes.  “Oh, don’t be like that!  Everything has a price if you’re imaginative enough.  How about your life?”  The blond haired man gave a grin that was all teeth.

  
The old man narrowed his eyes and his hands tightened on the gun.

  
“People would notice if I suddenly go missing and someone else starts living here.”

  
“Ha!” Bill laughed loudly.  “No they won’t.  You’re in a house all the way out in the woods, you only go to town at least every other week and even then you keep to yourself.  You have no living family so this house isn’t going to be given to anyone…So basically, it’s finders keepers!”

  
For the first time that night the old man began to show his fear.  Eyes wide with disbelief and his hands beginning to shake.

  
“W-what?”  The man croaked, “How do you…Who are you?”

  
Bill grinned liked the Cheshire cat, wide and filled with madness.

  
“I think the real question is…”

  
Suddenly the gun was ripped from the man’s hands and began to float in the air and turned to aim at him.  The old man gasped and stepped backwards until his back hit the wall.  He was shaking heavily now.

  
“H-how are you doing that?  Wait, please!  Don’t-!”

  
“…What am I?”

  
A gunshot rang through the basement and blood and brain matter splattered the wall.  The old man’s body hit the floor into a heap and blood began to pool around the huge hole in the head.  The smoking gun dropped to the ground as well, Bill had finally let it go.  Taking in a deep breath, Bill licked his lips as he could just taste blood and death in the air.  Soon though, the rush began to fade and Bill got bored looking at his handiwork.  Shrugging his shoulders in order to relieve some of the tension, the demon in human skin made his way up the stairs and closed the basement door.

He’d take care of it tomorrow, but for tonight he’d go to bed.  Cursing the fact that his human body actually needs rest like a normal human, though not nearly as much, Bill fell onto the bed with a long sigh.  Maybe if he was lucky though, a certain boy would be already asleep and ready to play.  Reaching out with his powers towards the Mystery Shack, the demon could feel the life force of others in the building.  He paid no mind to the other two for the moment and instead reached towards one that he knew very well.  Easily enough, an opening to Dipper’s dream world was there for him like an open door awaiting guests.

  
Bill grinned and let himself in.

 

** TBC **

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First off, I am SO SO SOOOOO sorry that this took so long to finish. I don't know why but this chapter just freaking kicked my ass. I hope you take my apologize as I made this chapter extra long (About 12,000 words and 36 pages on word; the longest I think I've EVER written for a chapter). Now, feel free to ask me questions but I might not be able to answer everything as I don't want to spoil things but I feel like I should clear some things up that might cause confusion.
> 
>  
> 
> **SPOILERS FOR THE STORY! If you haven't read it yet, scroll back up and read it before reading this. Also, I tend to ramble a bit in my AN so sorry in advance!**
> 
>  
> 
> 1: Bill is NOT omnipotent/all-knowing. He knows a lot and can see a lot, but he doesn't see everything. He didn't know Dipper had Journal Number Three and it was incredibly lucky that for him he was able to tear out the pages that contained anything about him, especially his name.
> 
> 2: Bill is in a humanized body. He has to eat and sleep and stuff like that, but it's much less then a normal human. The most he needs to sleep is like, three hours in the human body. He can sleep if he chooses to, and mostly he choose to just so he can go bother mess with Dipper's dreams.
> 
> 3: Bill used a bit of demon magic/whatever you wanna call it/ on the bag so Dipper would be able to pull it. You can't tell me a boy who is that small and who is constantly shown as the weaker (physically) twin that he'd be able to pull that huge bag with the monster inside and expect that to really make sense. Bill was able to make it seem like Dipper was stronger, giving the boy a bit of a confidence boost and getting brownie points because he seemingly believed in the kid.
> 
> 4: Now, with the Boss Mabel timeline, I kind of was a little confused at first, but I kind of set it up like this (So forgive me if it's wrong): Stan told Mabel she would have 72 hours and he left that night. When Dipper leaves to go find a mosnter, she has a clock that says 48 hours on it so I assume the clock started the moment Stan left the Shack. Dipper catches a monster and the couple are taken away in a ambulance. Cue to 22 hours on the clock and it's the next day. 
> 
> Mabel isn't wearing the suit anymore but instead regular clothes. The Gremloblin goes berserk and causes chaos in the shack and the twins are stranded hiding for a whopping 15 HOURS so it seems as by the time the gremloblin leaves, they only have 7 hours left for them to make that money rain.
> 
> It seems a bit farfetched but I watched that episode like five or six times while writing this and I think that it's correct. So what I'm trying to say (and failing) is that this chapter and episode took the time span of at least three days and ending on the afternoon/early evening of the last day.
> 
>  
> 
> Not all my chapters will be so alined with the canon episodes. Actually, it's going to get more and more diverted as we go along.
> 
> Another questions or things that I forgot to explain/you want to explain go ahead and ask me in a comment or send me a message on tumblr. I can't promise you I'll answer it, but I'll do my best.
> 
> Thank you all again and heres to hoping I get the next chapter out faster!


	5. Going In A Strange Man’s House Seems Like A Totally Good Idea

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dipper and Bill hang out some more and do some shopping together. Dipper shares a childhood memory and Bill (hesitantly) reveals some of his own family history. Dipper forgets logic and walks into a strange man's house for the sake of friendship.
> 
> Plus, someone gets suspicious of Bill's intentions for Dipper.

Mabel yawned as she blindly stumbled into the kitchen.  When she opened her eyes, she was surprised to find Dipper already dressed and sitting at the kitchen table eating cereal.

  
“Good morning Mabel.”  He said with his mouth full of cereal.

  
Mabel giggled and answered back.  “Morning bro!  You sure are up early!  Usually I’m always awake before you.”

  
Her twin shrugged.

 

“Well,” He spoke once he finally swallowed his food.  “I’ve just things to do, y’know?”

  
“You must be really busy.”  Mabel hmm-ed.  “You always seem to be running off somewhere for a while now…Are you hunting more monsters?”

  
“Uh, not exactly.  At least, not all the time.”  Dipper seemed embarrassed, or was it nervous?, about something.  Mabel was determined to find out what.

  
“Spill it brother!”  The girl grinned, though she frowned when Dipper seemingly hesitated.  That surprised her, and even hurt her a little; the two of them never kept secrets from each other.  “Dip?”

  
“I-”  Dipper gulped and his cheeks turned red.  “I made a friend.”

  
The two of them went silent as Dipper looked at Mabel, wondering how she would take it and Mabel just stared at him with a blank look.  All his worries were for nothing though when suddenly a huge grin broke out on her face.

  
“Oh Dipper, that’s wonderful!” She squealed in joy for him, making her brother blush but let out a pleased grin nevertheless.

  
“Thanks.”

  
“So, sooo!” Clapping her hands together and jumping up and down in her seat, nearly making the chair tip over in her excitement, Mabel gave her brother a pleading look.  “Tell me about your friend!”

  
“Well,-”

  
“Kids!”  Grunkle Stan came into the kitchen wearing his normal clothes sans his jacket.  “Have you seen my jacket?”

  
“Oh, it’s up in my room.” Mabel answered, grinning widely.

  
  
“Your room?  Why is it up there?”  


  
“I was bedazzling it for you!  Now you’ll be super flashy when you’re scamming tourists.  You know how attracted to shiny things the tourists are!  With that super looking jacket, they’ll be eating out of your hand!”

  
  
“That’s…That’s actually a great idea!” Stan rubbed his hands together with a scheming grin.  “Got any other ideas Mabel?”  


  
“Well, I’m glad you asked!  You see…”  


  
It was around that time that Dipper had finished his breakfast and left from the table.  He told them he was going out, but both were too involved with their conversation that they didn’t even notice him.  Sighing to himself, feeling a small bit of resentment at not just Stan, but Mabel as well at the fact that they ignored him.  Dipper walked out the backdoor and headed around towards the path to town with his hands in his vest’s pockets and he thought about his sister.

Sure, he didn’t expect much from Grunkle Stan at times, but being ignored like that from Mabel filled Dipper with a sick sort of feeling that he was unable to fully comprehend.  And even as of late, Mabel had been busy doing god knows what with her friends and Dipper tried his best to give her space and let her be her own person.  But, at the same time, she was his best and only friend.  Well, actually, that wasn’t true anymore was it?

That weird sick feeling in Dipper’s stomach seemed to fade away as he thought of the person he could call his friend.  Bill Cipher was strange, old, and laughed at the strangest thing sometimes, _but he was Dipper’s friend_.  The blond haired man seemed to genuinely care about Dipper and when he asked questions he actually seemed interested in Dipper’s answers.  He could joke with the man and the man would joke back and yet he could be serious and Bill would talk to him as if he was an adult.  Not even his parents talked to him like that.  It was completely refreshing and Dipper loved it.  Speaking of which, Dipper’s pace quickened as got past the church and could spot Bill sitting at their normal meeting spot by the statue.  He waved as he got closer and Bill, who had been leaning back in a lazy sort of sprawl, immediately sat up gave a big grin as he saw him.

  
“Hey there P.T.!”  Bill’s smile was wide and infectious and Dipper grinned back and only faintly registered the fact that his heart seemed to beat quicker than normal.  “How’d you sleep kiddo?”

  
“Fine,” Dipper answered, taking a seat next to Bill and letting the man give him a one arm hug, which was over much quicker then Dipper had wished.  “How about you?”

  
“Eh,” The man shrugged.  “Not bad.”

  
The man gave a lax grin before suddenly straightening up.

 

“Ooh, ooh!  How did the exhibit go the other day?  Did you wow the tourists like you said you would?”

 

Dipper gave a half pout-half scowl as he thought about the other day.

  
“No!  I just don’t understand it; they all thought that it was fake! How in the world could something like a gremloblin be fake?  But then when I tried to prove to the tourists that it wasn’t fake, it ended up putting them into a catatonic state and I had to call an ambulance for them.  Then Mabel ended up giving the gremlobin a break of all things, she said that it was a Mystery Shack employee so it was its right to have a fifteen minute break.  Then it destroyed the shack, made the two of us hide in the other room while it played with a stupid singing fish on the wall and then flew away.  Then Mabel had to become a ‘boss’ and yell at all of us and we all hurriedly cleaned the store up before Stan got home.”  Dipper sighed, taking off his hat and running a hand through his hair with a tired sigh.  His body was sore from everything they had done the other day and every now and again he felt waves of exhaustion come over him.

  
“So?”  Bill spoke, his mouth close to Dipper’s ear as he had leaned down to look at Dipper.  The boy, nearly a teen, shivered slightly and let out a gasp which quickly changed into a small sigh of pleasure when he felt Bill suddenly touch his back and began rubbing in a circular motion.  Just that simple motion seemed to send warmth through him and relieved some of the soreness in his back.  “Who won the bet?”

  
“We did.”  Dipper replied in a trance like voice.  What Bill was doing felt so _good_.  “We only won by a single dollar though.  Mabel sure is lucky that Stan is a greedy guy and went for the final puzzle to win more money.”

  
“What would he have done with that money if he had actually won it?”  Bill moved his hand from the circular motion to using the heel of his hand and pushing.

  
“Wh-hooo-oh knows.”  Dipper groaned as Bill pressed down on a particularly tender spot.  “He wouldn’t use it on us.  Did I tell you that Stan doesn’t even pay Mabel and I the same wages apparently?”

 

“What; is he paying your sister less then you?”

  
“No, actually, Mabel is making a lot more than me.  She makes eight dollars an hour while I make only three!  Three dollars!”

  
Bill stopped for a moment and just looked at Dipper with a wide eye and a small laugh which turned into a frown when he saw Dipper’s serious face.

  
“Wow…That’s, that’s really bad P.T.  Why is there such a gap?”

  
The boy shrugged, feeling a mix of uncomfortable feelings in himself.

  
“I don’t know.  I think he just likes Mabel better than me…No, I know he likes her better than me.”  Dipper nodded with a resigned look on his face.  “Especially with what just happened, I think Stan respects her a bit more even.  They were even talking business together before I left to meet you.  It’s weird.”

  
Dipper lifted his legs to his knees and hugged them close.  He was quiet for a while, just thinking of what to say.  The man beside him didn’t say anything; he simply sat next to him and held his hand on Dipper’s back in a silent gesture to comfort him.  Letting out a breath, Dipper lifted his head and released his legs and shifted until he sat Indian style.

  
“It always feels like he’s pushing these impossibly hard tasks on me or is just throwing me to the wolves.  He never believes me when I tell him about monsters in the woods and he laughs at me outright sometimes!  He’ll buy us cheap and gross food and then say that we need to earn it and make us work long and unethical hours at the Shack.  Sometimes it feels like he just doesn’t care about me at all.”

  
Dipper looked at Bill for a moment, taking in the man’s serious face before lowering his gaze to his lap.  The boy felt an almost shameful feeling rolling around inside his gut.  Even more embarrassing, he could feel his eyes prick with a tell-tale sign of tears.  He quickly turned even further away from Bill and scrubbed at his eyes furiously.  Just as he was mentally berating himself for doing something as stupid as crying, a pair of long arms wrapped themselves around Dipper’s small form.

  
“Shhh,” Bill shushed him and held his chest to Dipper’s back.  His chin rested on top of Dipper’s head.  “It’s okay Dipper.  I’m sure your granduncle has a reason for what he’s doing all this.”

  
The boy scoffed weakly.  “Like what?”

  
Bill had no answer to that though.  He just held Dipper for a little longer.  Slowly, hesitantly, Bill let go of Dipper and the boy missed his warmth immediately. The two sat in silence, neither looking at each other. 

  
“Sorry.”  Dipper finally said, breaking the strained silence.

  
“It’s okay.”  Bill shrugged.  “Emotions can be the strongest things in the world.  Humans try to fight them, to control them, but in the end it’s impossible.  You should just let them run its course.  If you need to rant and rave and cry I won’t stop you; it’s perfectly human.”  Bill gave a toothy grin which Dipper did his best to return.

  
“Okay…But I didn’t cry.” The boy stared at Bill; unknowingly pouting a bit as he did so.

  
“Of course not.”  Bill did his best not to smirk.

  
“I didn’t!” 

  
“I didn’t say you did, now did I?”

  
Dipper gave him a suspicious squinted glare which Bill seemed unaffected by.  That continued for only a few more seconds until Dipper’s lips twitched and he let out a small laugh.  The pale man laughed along with him, shaking his head in fondness.

  
“You are a weird kid, you know that Pine Tree?  Must be all those hormones bubbling in you.”

  
Dipper flushed.  “Hey, weren’t you just the one who were just saying that humans have emotions and it’s best to let them out…or something like that.”

  
“Something like that.”  Bill repeated back in a mocking tone before rolling his one visible eye.  “Well kid, as much as I wish I could just stay here and bicker with you over the pros and cons of human emotions, I’ve got people to do and things to see.” 

  
The man paused as he stood up, making a face and glancing at Dipper.

  
“Hmm, I think I meant to switch that around, but that works well enough.”

  
“What?”  Dipper hopped down from the edge of the statue and looked up at Bill.  “But I just got here!  I-I thought we were gonna…y’know, hangout?” 

  
The boy shifted his weight from one foot to the other, rubbing his arm in a nervous habit.

  
“Ah, well, as much as I would love to hang out all day with you Pine Tree, I’ve got some errands I need to do.  I gotta run by the hardware store and the grocery store.  It doesn’t seem like much to do, but I need to do some serious restocking of my kitchen and I need lots of stuff for around the house since I just moved in.  Plus, I tend to wander around and look at lots of different stuff so who knows how long it’ll take me.”  Bill just shrugged, giving Dipper a ‘what can you do?’ kind of look.

  
“Oh! I could come with you!  I’m really good at lists and shopping.  I go with my mom a lot and help her out!”

  
Bill’s look of surprise did nothing to diminish Dipper’s growing hopeful face.

  
“Really?  Are you sure you wanna come?  I mean, it’s just errands.  It’s not like I’m going on a hunt in the woods for a mysterious creatures.”  Bill snorted.  “Though some of the people I’ll come across in the meat section at the grocery store could be defined as creatures of mysterious origin.”

 

“Yeah!” Dipper nodded enthusiastically.  “It’ll be fun!”

  
Bill gave the boy a look that expressed that he highly doubted that but gestured the boy to follow him. 

  
“Come on then, I want to get everything done before it gets too late in the day.”  The blond said as he made his way to the street.  He pulled a set of car keys out of his pocket and swung them around his right hand’s pointer finger.

  
Dipper followed eagerly like a duckling.  He followed so closely in fact, that when Bill stopped, he ran into the back of him.  He stepped back and rubbed his nose before looking up at the older man who didn’t seem to notice Dipper’s plight.

  
“Here we are!  It’s tin can but it runs and it’s handy and really all I had.”  Bill pressed a button on his car keys and Dipper hears the car’s, a little beat up blue pickup truck, doors unlock.  “Go ahead, hop in.”

  
Bill hopped into the car on the driver’s side while Dipper went around the other side.  Careful of oncoming cars since Bill had parked on the street, the boy quickly got in.  The moment he sat in, he took the time to just really take in the inside of the car.  The inside itself wasn’t crowded with stuff, but it was obvious to tell it had been used for years.  Some dust layered the dash though it seemed as if it had been slightly brushed away.  Some old dirt caked the rugs and changed what had been once a nice light color into a dirty mess.  An old worn out air freshener, which was actually in the shape of a green pine tree, hung from the rearview mirror and was long over used and peeling.  Dipper could even see some cracks on the glass covering the speedometer and see stuffing coming out of where the seats were ripped.  Even on the outside it needed a good washing.  But it was different then his own parent’s car which was always kept neat.  It was a neat change.

  
“Seatbelt!”  Dipper said, immediately clicking his seatbelt into place and staring at Bill pointedly until he did the same.  Safety was important, and Dipper gave a thumbs up to the man when he was fastened to his seat.

  
“All ready?  Great!  Then here we go!”  Bill put the key in the ignition and turned it over.

  
What sound the car made was one of the worst sounds Dipper had ever heard in his life.

  
“Wow.”  He said after the car finally came to life.  “That sounded like a mix of my Grunkle Stan gargling and a cat throwing up a hairball.”

  
“Lovely.”  Bill replied flatly.  “Well, now with that wonderful image behind us, how about we start our adventure, hmm?”

  
Bill pulled away from the curb and drove the vehicle down the street.  The truck drove smoothly, surprisingly enough.  From the look of the inside, and outside, Dipper had expected it to drive like it needed a long visit at the mechanic’s.  The radio played softly in the car, interrupting the comfortable silence that had settled between the two of them.  By the twang of the singer’s voice and the acoustic guitar, Dipper knew old country music when he heard it.

  
“Never took you as a country kind of guy Bill.”

  
“Oh?”  Bill sounded amused and his single eye looked briefly to his passenger before going back to the street in front of them.  “What kind of music did you think someone like me would listen to?”

 

The kid shrugged a bit.

  
“I dunno…maybe indie music?  I can see you listening to hipster music.”

  
“You’re only saying that because I met you at the book-café place aren’t you.”  Bill said, making it sound like a statement more than a question.  Dipper gave a half grin and a shrug which Bill rolled his eye at but grinned as well.

  
The two stopped at a red light and Dipper looked around at his surroundings out the window.

  
“So, where are we even going?”

  
“Hmm, well first we need to go to the hardware store.  I need to pick up some lime and then paint, wood and a shovel.  Maybe some other stuff to fix up the house a bit, but we’ll see when we get there.  Then after that we gotta hit the grocery store and pick up some yummy food!  If you’re good I’ll even let you pick out a sweet for you.”  Bill said the last part in a high pitched sweet coated voice as he poked Dipper on the side.

  
Dipper smacked Bill’s hand away but looked at him confused.  “Lime?  But why would you get those at a hardware store?  Especially since we’re going to a grocery store right after?  Wait, do they even sell limes at stores like that?  That is so weird.”

  
“No dingus,” Bill poked Dipper again, still never looking away from the road.  “Not lime the fruit- or is it a vegetable?- I mean the stuff you put on the ground to stop stuff from smelling funky.  Stuff in most case being decomposing bodies like the one I have in the basement…The body in this case is that damn animal that was in my house, yeah.”  Bill nodded and Dipper thought that he looked oddly proud of himself.

  
“You’re so weird Bill.”  Dipper finally said.  Instead of getting a squawk of denial from the man like he expected, Dipper was poked a third time and Bill laughed loudly over the radio.

  
“Well, you’re stuck with weird ole’ me now that we’re friends.  There is no leaving this friendship behind.  We will journey to the great land of sharp pointy things that make men, men, and to the land of bountiful fruit and chicken nuggets that are in the shape of dinosaurs which are extremely overpriced.” Bill looked away from the road as they came to a stop at another red light to look at the boy seated next to him with a serious look.  “Do not be seduced by the overpriced but admittedly cool dinosaur nuggets P.T.  You must be strong and fight it.”

  
Bill looked away as the light turned green and he began to pull into the hardware store’s parking lot.  Neither said anything as Bill raced another car to a spot near the front of the building and won.  The blond haired man grinned and waved to the driver of the other car, a little old lady who was currently flipping him off, and successfully put the car into park.  Dipper let out a breath that he didn’t realize he was holding and let go of the affectionately named ‘Oh-Shit’ handle that was above the window.  He turned to the other male and gave him a considering look.

  
“Bill, you are very strange and I’m pretty sure you’re the type of guy that my parents told me not to go near.  In fact, I’m about one hundred percent sure you are the exact guy my parents warned me about.”

  
Bill just grinned.

  
“My other car is a white van.  Besides, you’ve already gotten into a car with me and you’ve gotten sweets from me, twice I might say.  So, if I may say, you’ve already broken your parent’s rules haven’t you?”

  
Dipper let out a low groan.

  
“I am never gonna be able to tell my parents what I did this summer.  They won’t believe me about the monsters but they’ll do nothing but yell and scold me for getting in the car with a strange man.”  Dipper slid out of the truck, careful not to hit the car on the other side and slammed the door shut.  Waiting for Bill to get out and walk with him, Dipper continued to talk.

  
“Though to be honest I’m probably in more danger whenever I get into the car with Grunkle Stan then with you.  The only bad thing about your driving is that you’re an aggressive driver.  Grunkle Stan is an aggressive driver, has road rage, is practically blind, and is a make-his-own-path kind of way.”  Dipper paused.  “Then again, we didn’t really go too far so I can’t make a sound judgment on so little evidence.”

  
Bill let out an amused huff.  “So what you’re saying is that you need me to drive you to more places?”  With an eye roll, the man playfully bowed to Dipper.  “Of course Ms. Daisy!  After you Ms. Daisy.”

  
“Stop it!” Dipper laughed and pushed Bill away from him, who had begun leaning in his personal space again.

  
The whooshing of the automatic doors announced their arrival and Bill walked with a purpose and steadily ignored the worker by the door who tried to hand him a flyer.  Dipper took one with a sheepish grin and a ‘what-can-you-do?’ at the worker but then promptly set it on a nearby display and chased after Bill.  When he caught up to the man’s long strides, the man was muttering to himself, looking around and reading the aisle signs.

  
“P.T., find where the wood planks are, two by fours and up are good, and find where the paint is located.  I’m gonna go look for the shovel and lime.  I’ll meet you up wherever you are.”  Bill put his hand on Dipper’s hat and pushed it down, covering Dipper’s eyes, before he basically skipped away towards the outdoor tools.  The boy scowled slightly but it changed into a small fond smile.  Turning on his heel, Dipper began looking for what he had been assigned to look for.

  
Unsure what size wood planks Bill needed, Dipper just grabbed a shopping cart and dropped many different size planks in it.  Dipper felt proud of himself when he managed to lift some of the heavier planks all on his own.  He thought back to the other day when he had managed to lift that huge sack with the gremloblin in it and he felt a huge grin slide across his face.  He really did feel like he was getting stronger.  The boy was pulled, quite forcefully, out of his thoughts when another cart suddenly crashed into the back of his own.  Jumping in surprise, Dipper turned to look and relaxed when he saw Bill staring at him.

  
“Wow.  Could you be any more immature?”

  
Bill scoffed in retaliation.

  
“Don’t act as if you’re so mature!  I bet that with the chance, you would act as immature as a regular kid your age…In fact,” Bill’s face split as he let out a huge grin.  “I bet you that I can beat you in a shopping cart race!”

  
Dipper’s grin mirrored Bill’s.

  
“Oh, you’re on!”  The boy put both hands on the railing of the cart, ready to push off in a hurry.

  
The older man’s grin turned a bit fiercer as he gripped his cart’s handle as well.

  
“On the count of three we go to the check out, alright?”

  
Dipper nodded in recognition of Bill’s rules and readied himself.  


“Ready... _Onetwothree_!”

  
Bill shot off, cackling madly as he gained the lead on a surprised Dipper.  The smaller male quickly chased after him and the tall man was losing his lead as he had to weave around innocent bystanders.  Shouting apologizes to the people he almost hit but never taking his eyes off of Bill, Dipper was catching up.  Grin widening as he felt a competitive edge nearly bursting at the seams, the brown haired boy managed to match cart to cart with Bill.

The two shot each other a grin, which was actually much more teeth baring then that could actually be called a grin.  They looked ahead and saw the checkout lane was rapidly getting closer.  Bill suddenly twisted his cart and nearly running into Dipper’s cart if the boy hadn’t suddenly pulled back and loose a bit of momentum.

  
“Hey!” Dipper cried out, glaring at the other.

  
“Hay is for horses my dear~!”  Bill positively sang out as he raced the last leg of the impromptu race to the cashier.

  
Dipper’s scowl turned into a smirk when he suddenly had a brilliant idea.  The boy pushed himself to run faster and with one final mighty push, jumped onto the cart with his feet on the bottom bar and let the speeding cart take him away.  Of course Bill, seeing what Dipper was doing, refused to be left out of what looked like a horribly dangerous way of having fun and did it as well.  Dipper grinned at the cashier as his cart slowly came to a stop in front of her register.

  
He promptly let out a girly shriek when Bill suddenly went full speed past him and crashing into the nearby magazine and candy rack.

  
It was an absolute mess.  Magazines and candy were spread haphazardly across the ground and some even falling into Bill’s cart which the man threw mostly on the ground but paused grab two bars of candy.

  
“Well,” Bill laughed until he was breathless.  “I-I guess they had better start putting breaks on those.”

  
The blond haired man grinned widely at the slack jawed cashier and pointed to his cart and Dipper’s.

  
“Both of these are together on one order.”

  
The cashier just stared at him and then the mess and then looked at a rather sheepish looking Dipper.  The girl just took a deep sigh and started typing in keys on her register.

  
“I don’t get paid enough for this.”

  
At the end the cashier spoke the amount and Dipper watched Bill take out his wallet and pay cash for the entire order.  The man then took all his things out of his cart and merged them into Dipper’s cart and left his own just sitting there.  Ignoring the cashier’s tired glare, Bill took the cart from the preteen boy and led him outside.

  
“Do you always leave a huge mess like that when you go shopping?”  Dipper asked as he helped putting some of the supplies in the bed of the truck.

  
“Eh, that wasn’t as bad as some of the destruction I’ve done to stores.  Besides, it wasn’t too bad, right?”

  
Dipper shrugged as he got into his seat and put on his seatbelt.

  
“No, not really.  I’ve seen Grunkle Stan cause more destruction then that.  Heck, my sister and I have caused more of a mess then that.”

  
“Oh?” Bill peered at the boy curiously as he pulled out of the hardware store’s parking lot and onto the main street.

  
“Yeah,” The kid began to laugh a bit, shaking his head as he remembered a long ago memory.  “One time when we were really little, our parents took us to a toy store and said that we could have one toy each.  So I found some kind of toy that seemed really cool at the time but Mabel, she had to get the perfect toy.  So while Mom and Dad were busy looking at some toys, the two of us wandered off so Mabel could find what she wanted.”

  
Bill hummed in acknowledgement but Dipper barely noticed.  His eyes were slightly glazed over as the inside of the car and the world around them seemed to disappear as he retold a memory.

  
“We went through so many toy sets, kitchen sets, doll houses, animal figurines, board games, video games, rocking horses, ponies, art supplies, and everything else under the sun.  We had basically gone through every sort of toy the store had and Mabel just couldn’t find the perfect toy she wanted.  But just as we were about to give up and try to find our parents, Mabel found exactly what she had been itching for.”  Dipper gave a small smile at Bill.  “Guess what she found.”

  
“What?”

  
“Guess!”

  
Bill groaned playfully but let out a small hum when he saw how closed lipped Dipper was being.

  
“Lemme think for a second.”  As they came to a stop at a red light, Bill closed his single eye and focused.

  
Slowly but surely, images slipped through the blackness behind his eyelid.  A little girl Mabel whose pudgy face was stretched with a smile as she held a certain toy in her arms lovingly.  Pulling the images was getting much easier, Bill noted with a giddy grin.  It took all the will power in himself not to start cackling with joy.

  
“Hmm, well could it possibly be a doll?  Maybe a baby doll?”  Bill opened his eye and put his foot on the accelerator when he saw that the red light had changed to green.  After a few beats of silence, Bill looked momentarily over at Dipper and nearly doubled over the steering wheel in laughter.  Dipper was gaping at him with shock and it was completely unflattering.  Reaching over with his hand, his entire body shaking with suppressed snickers, the man closed Dipper’s unhinged jaw but didn’t take his fingers off from under his chin for a few seconds.

  
“H-how did you know?!?”  Dipper finally asked, his eyes so wide that Bill was sure they were going to pop right out of his head. 

  
“Well, baby dolls are something little girls play with a lot right?  I was gonna say ponies but you said she hadn’t chosen that so a baby doll was my second choice.”  Bill lied easily with a serene grin on his face.

  
Dipper just stared at Bill some more before a slightly impressed looked before he turned and looked back out the front window.

  
“So?”  Bill spoke, attempting to further the story.

  
“So?  Oh, right.  Well, Mabel found this huge, and I mean incredibly huge, taller then you even, display of these baby dolls.  There were three different versions with different names and I remember that the first two was a boy and a girl and they had some kind of boring names and the fact that Mabel was no way interested in them in the slightest.  The third one though, was a Princess Baby.”  Dipper gave Bill an utterly serious face and the man snorted in disbelief.

  
“Are you kidding me?”

  
“Nope!  A Princess Baby that would have royal tantrums if you didn’t pretend feed her or pretend change her diapers or pretend burp her or whatever.  It even had a tiara.  Mabel had to have her.  Of course, she was the most sought after doll of the three of them and there was only a couple left and can you guess where on the display they were?”

  
“At the top?”

  
“At the top!”  Dipper groaned, just thinking about it.  “I swear, I think some disgruntled worker just was hoping to torture some small kids by keeping all the good toys out of reach.”

  
The boy paused in his story telling and giggled quietly to himself.  Bill waited patiently until the boy settled down and began to continue where he left off.

  
“And-and, well,” Dipper, still partially giggling, spoke, “Since we couldn’t reach the toy, Mabel and I made the toy come down to us.”

  
Seeing where this was going, the blond haired man’s grin turned mischievous.

  
“Don’t tell me…”

  
“We started knocking down the bottom boxes and when we did the entire display just toppled.  Mabel was lucky enough to catch her Princess Baby in its box but as soon as the others hit the ground, they started _wailing_!  Over maybe one hundred of those toys screaming that horrible fake high pitch noise of theirs and we can even see some of the dolls are broken so the two of us just beat feet and go barreling towards where we last saw our parents.  We were aisle away and we could still hear the horrible sound of those dolls screaming their voice boxes out.

  
“The two of us found our parents at the same place we had left them and they hadn’t even noticed that we had disappeared they were so transfixed with whatever they were doing.  We were checking out when a store employee came up to our cashier and panicking about how many dolls there were all on the floor and how that he couldn’t shut them up and he wasn’t sure what happened when had happened when he saw my sister’s Princess Baby.  The guy realized that we were part of it and started going into us about it but Mabel and I denied like crazy!  Our parents, luckily, took our side and after paying put us in the car and drove home in silence.  When we got into the driveway, our parents just turned to us and grilled us about it.  We finally confessed and they were so angry at us.  They took both of our toys and said we weren’t allowed to have them because we were grounded and we both got spankings.

“We didn’t get our toys for nearly a month and we never did go back to that toy store.”

  
By the end of the story both Dipper and Bill were laughing so hard that it hurt them and that they could barely breathe.  The blond haired man wheezed a bit until he finally got control of his breathing again.

  
“Well, it sure seems like that the two of you must have had a fun time growing up.”  Bill chuckled.  “Ugh, now my sides hurt.”

  
Still giggling a bit, Dipper spoke a breathlessly, “Yeah.  Mabel and I got into so much trouble and even though most of the time it was her fault, I always got blamed along with her.”

  
“Sisters,” Bill scoffed, “They are just the best and the worst.”

  
Dipper was nodding along in agreement when he blinked in realization.

  
“You have a sister too Bill?”

  
That is when the atmosphere changed and Dipper regretted asking immediately.  Bill’s easy grin became rigid and forced.

  
“Sorry, sorry!  If you don’t want to talk about it-!” Dipper hurried blabbed but was waved away by the man.

  
“No, it’s fine.  It’s not like you knew about her or anything.  It’s just our relationship is…” Bill paused and tilted his head, trying to find a proper word to describe it.  “Strained, I guess is the best way to explain it.”

  
The only noise in the car was the radio as it [played a song by a girl with a rather deep and sorrowful sounding voice](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aazb8Rt31nk).  Neither paid much attention to it.

  
“Can,” Dipper coughed, his voice cracking, “Can I ask what happened?  If you don’t want to, then you don’t have to say anything.”

  
“I know I don’t have to say anything.”  Bill snapped snidely and Dipper winced.

  
Bill’s face, which had been progressing into a sneer, softened almost instantly.

  
“I’m sorry.”  He apologized to Dipper, his voice barely going over the song on the radio.  “It’s just that my sister and I have some bad blood between us that we never truly recovered from.”

  
“So you don’t talk to her?  At all?”

  
“I haven’t truly talked to her in years.  I’ve left messages and notes of course, but I haven’t really had any need or desire to talk face to face with her.”

  
Dipper swallowed harshly.  He tried to imagine what it would be like for himself if he was like that with Mabel.  Just the idea left a horrible taste in his mouth.

  
“What was-er, _is_ , she like?”

  
Bill let out a small sigh and looked at Dipper briefly with weariness.  Before the boy could apologize and attempt to assure the man that he didn’t have to tell him, Bill began to speak.

  
“She could be cold.  She liked to work alone and didn’t like it if she did work but didn’t come out on top.  She was a bit of a perfectionist.  She enjoyed puzzle games while I enjoyed games like tag or hide and seek.  Do you understand what I mean?”

  
“I guess?”  Dipper didn’t sound too sure, but Bill seemed uncomfortable enough that he didn’t try and have the older male try and explain it.

  
“It’s just too complicated.” 

  
The silence was stifling for a bit before Dipper hesitantly asked another question.

  
“What is her name?”

  
Dipper knew he probably shouldn’t ask any more questions, but the burning curiosity to know more about his strange friend wouldn’t let him hold back.

  
“Jill.”  Bill replied after a bit.  “Her name is Jill.”

  
The conversation was over by Bill’s tone of finality and by the fact that the man had pulled the car into the grocery store’s parking lot and into a spot.  While he parked the car, Bill didn’t move from his seat where he was leaning over and clenching the driving wheel tightly.  The blond haired man looked so lost in his thoughts and Dipper hated the fact that it was his fault that he had caused that.  Unbuckling himself, Dipper reached over and hesitantly hugged the lanky man.

  
It was as awkward as Dipper had expected it to be.  Hugging Bill was like hugging a brick wall, although it was much, much warmer.  Bill seemed surprised and really unsure what to do so Dipper just kept hugging the man.  Finally getting the idea, the blond haired man slowly put his own long arms around Dipper.  He leaned down and pulled Dipper deeper into the hug.  For a moment the young boy had the crazy thought that Bill was trying to pull him in deep…deep into what?  What strange thoughts he was having. Dipper mentally shook his head of those bizarre thinkings and shifted slightly so his chin rested on the man’s shoulder. 

Dipper’s eyes nearly fluttered shut as the time he was being hugged by Bill grew.  He just felt so warm, so comfy, that Dipper just wanted to stay like that forever. The drowsiness was shaken from Dipper though when Bill pulled away.  The man smiled at Dipper and the boy realized immediately that this smile was much different than any of the others Bill had ever given him.

  
“Thank you Dipper, I had almost forgotten how nice it was to get a hug.  I haven’t gotten one of those in a long time.”

 

Dipper didn’t voice how sad he thought that was, but it must have been written all over his face.  Bill continued to smile as he lifted Dipper’s hat off his head and ruffled the preteen’s hair, much to Dipper’s dismay.

  
“Aw, but I know that you’ll be here from now on to give me all the hugs I could ever want, right?”  Bill gave a wide, teasing grin as he leaned closer to Dipper.

  
Dipper’s cheeks turned bright red and he pulled his hat out of Bill’s hand and pulled it down back on his head.

  
“You are so weird Bill.”  He said before moving and opening his door and jumping out.

  
“Yeah, but you like it!”  Bill replied as he followed Dipper and got out of the car.  Locking the truck, the two headed into the grocery store.

  
“Hello.  Welcome to our store.”  A teen boy greeted them unenthusiastically at the door before handing them a flyer.  “Here are some coupons so buy some stuff or whatever.”

  
Bill scoffed.  “Wow.  Way to show your love for your job.”

  
“Hey man,” The teen looked at the two of them with a bored look.  “You do this for six hours straight and say the same thing for only minimum wage and see how you feel.”

  
“He’s got a point Bill.”  Dipper poked the man in the side. 

  
Said man just hummed before grabbing a cart and began wandering aimlessly.

  
“So what kind of things do you need?  Do you have a list?”  The boy looked at the other male expectantly, something that amused Bill endlessly.

  
“A list?  Nah, I’ll just grab whatever looks good.”

  
“Really?”  Dipper raised an eyebrow.  “No list whatever?  What if you forget something?”

  
“Well, I kinda just need everything.”

  
“You really mean everything?”

  
“Yep!”

  
“Well, what do you like to eat?”

  
The man shrugged.

  
“Meh, whatever I guess.  I’m not picky.”

  
“You aren’t helping in this.”

  
“I know.”

  
“Well,” Dipper folded his arms and rocked on the balls of his feet.  “What kind of things do you prefer at least?”

  
“Ah,” Scratching his neck, Bill shrugged.  “I guess the normal things for people living alone like me?  Easy to eat fruit, quick meals, maybe some meat to cook on the weekends or such?  What kinds of food do you like to eat P.T.?”

  
“Me? Uh, about the same I guess, just more sugar.”  Dipper looked around the aisle they had stopped at and pointed to a cereal box.  “Something like that is what Mabel and I usually get at home.”

  
“Okay then.”  Nodding to himself, Bill walked over and picked up the box of cereal and put it into the cart and proceeded to push the cart down the aisle.

  
“What are you doing?”  Dipper asked, jogging slightly to catch up the other man’s long strides.

  
“Grocery shopping, duh.”

  
Bill gave Dipper a look, like that the answer should’ve been obvious, and Dipper rolled his eyes in response.

  
“I mean, why are you buying cereal that I like?  You’re not buying it for me are you?  If so, you definitely don’t need to do that.  I mean, if you wanted to that’s really cool of you but we’re supposed to be buying you food and I’d feel bad if you bought what I wanted instead of what you needed and-” Dipper’s ramblings were stopped as Bill’s hand covered his mouth.

  
“Stop that.”  He ordered as he slowly pulled his hand away from Dipper’s face, as if wary that Dipper would start vomiting words again if pulled his hand away too soon.

  
“And you know what Pine Tree?  Whoever said this cereal was for you?  You really shouldn’t go presuming things like that.  Just because of your rudeness, I’m going to sit down in front of you and eat the entire box of cereal.  Uh, later though.  Because it’d be kinda weird to eat an entire box of cereal in the middle of an aisle.”  Bill stopped talking momentarily when Dipper tugged on his vest and motioned for the taller man to lean downward.  The boy placed his hand over Bill’s mouth and gave him a serious look.

  
“Stop that.”  He mimicked Bill’s words, his serious expression fading quickly as he giggled Bill’s deadpanned stare.

  
“Ha ha, you’re hilarious.  Now let’s go find some other stuff that we need.”

  
“Well,” Dipper spoke, putting his hands on his hips and giving Bill a firm look.  “I guess we’ll just have to go aisle to aisle since we don’t really know what you’re looking for to buy.”  Dipper quickly walked in front of Bill and the cart and led the way.  Bill followed slowly after him, a grin of amusement on his face as he watched the preteen swagger away.

  
The duo moved from aisle to aisle where Dipper would point out several things and the two would decide if it should be added to the growing cart of things or left on the shelf.  Soon they had a decent amount of food in the cart which would last for quite awhile, or at least, Dipper thought it would.  He wasn’t sure just how much Bill could and would eat and when he mentioned that to the lanky man, he had shrugged and said that Dipper would have to help him then.  Together the two of them stood at the checkout line and both made fun of the magazines and town newspaper which all had ridiculous pictures of celebrities and such on the covers.

Once the cashier finished scanning and bagging their stuff and the two were about to head out the door when a voice called out.

  
“Dipper?”

  
The two males stopped their conversation and turned around towards the voice.  Dipper’s face, which had been a mix of confusion and curiosity, turned to surprise and then pure and absolute elation.

  
“Wendy!  Hey, what are you doing here?”

  
Dipper left Bill’s side and bounded towards the teenage girl, leaving Bill to stand by the grocery store’s exit with the cart. 

  
“I’m just picking up some meat for dinner tonight.  Dad decided that we’re gonna grill up some hot dogs and sausage.”  Wendy lifted the two plastic bags in both hands to show that the meat was in one, and buns were in another.  “So what are you up to Dipper?”  


Wendy’s eyes trailed over from the boy she was talking to Bill who still stood by his cart and the exit, looking rather stiff.  Bill gave Wendy a smile, if it could actually be called that, as it was mostly teeth bared at her.  Wendy raised an eyebrow slightly as she took him in.

  
“Who’s this?”

  
“Oh!”  Dipper seemed to suddenly remember that Bill was there and he turned towards the man, who’s bare teeth smile became softer but never loosing it’s fakeness, and pointed to Bill.

  
“This is my friend Bill Cipher.  Bill, this is Wendy Corduroy.  She works at the Mystery Shack and she’s really cool.”  Dipper’s cheeks turned read as soon as he said that and his eyes quickly shot to Wendy to see what her reaction would be to his words.

  
Wendy took her eyes off of Bill and turned to look and smile at Dipper.

  
“Aw, you’re not so bad yourself Dip.”  She punched him in the shoulder lightly and even so, Dipper found himself rubbing his shoulder and wincing in pain.

  
Wendy looked back up at Bill and gave a small nod of acknowledgement.

  
“Nice to meet you.” She drawled slowly.

  
“And you as well.”  Bill nodded curtly, that fake grin still on his face but this time smaller.

  
It was obvious to everyone besides Dipper that they were faking.  Usually Wendy would be stoked to meet any friends of Dipper’s; in fact this was really the first she had ever heard of the kid having friends.  She had always felt a bit bad for him and had let him hang out so he wouldn’t be so lonely.  Plus he wasn’t too bad, if not but a little bit awkward at times but she was sure that he would grow out of it eventually.

But something about this man gave her a strange feeling that she couldn’t put her finger on.  She felt like somewhere deep in her gut, that she knew this man, but she wasn’t sure why.  Plus, another thing was the fact that Dipper, who was twelve years old, was friends with a man who looked to be in his twenties to early thirties.  What kind of man hung out with a twelve year old?  She knew the word and it was at the tip of her tongue but Wendy was hesitant to actually say it.  Things like that didn’t happen in small towns like Gravity Falls.  Sure, the town may be weird but there is a difference between weird and just plain wrong.  What if she was wrong about him too?  If she was, just the rumor itself could ruin the man.  So, even as an eternal alarm rang endlessly inside her, Wendy pushed it to the back of her mind and spoke to the man.

  
“So did you just move into town?”  She asked, putting as much casualness into her tone as was possible.  “I haven’t seen you before, is why I’m asking.”

  
“Hm, well, I used to live here a long while ago, but I left for a while.  I wanted to go and do the who pretentious ‘find myself’ deal, y’know?  Saw everything, learned lots, and eventually decided to come back here to settle down.”  Bill waved his hand carelessly, chuckling a bit.  After a few seconds, Wendy chuckled a little too.

  
“That’s cool.  That’s actually what I planned to do after school or maybe even next summer if I can convince my dad to let me take his old car for an entire summer.”

  
“You should.”  Bill encouraged with a nod.  “There is nothing better than traveling and experiencing the world while you’re young.”

  
“Yeah,” Wendy muttered slightly before speaking up, “Yeah.  I’ll definitely look into that.”

  
“Welp, we better go Dipper if we don’t want some of this food to spoil.  Dipper, you hear me?”  Bill’s voice took a slightly annoyed undercurrent as the tall lanky man noticed that the brown haired boy was staring at Wendy with a goofy look.  Blinking and letting out a dumb sounding   
“huh?” Dipper quickly got back in the conversation.

  
“Oh, already?”  He said, his voice dripping with disappointment.  “Okay then.  Bye Wendy, it was good seeing you!”

  
“Bye Dipper,” Wendy waved back to Dipper as him and Bill began to walk out of the store.  “I’ll see you at the Shack later!”

  
“Okay! Bye Wendy, see you later!  Have a good day! Bye…” Dipper trailed off as Wendy had begun walking in an opposite direction.  The preteen let out a deep sigh and smacked right into Bill’s back when the man had stopped.  Rubbing his face, Dipper realized that they had reached Bill’s truck and the man had already begun filling the bed of the truck with the groceries and Dipper hurried to help him.  Once all the bags were in the truck and set so they wouldn’t slide all around while Bill was driving, the two got in the truck.

  
“So,” Bill finally spoke as he started the truck, his voice seemed strangely higher, something that confused Dipper, “That was a friend of yours?”

  
“Uh, yeah!”  Dipper nodded a bit excitedly.  “She works at Grunkle Stan’s Shack and she’s super cool and nice and funny.  She lets Mabel and I hang out with her and her friends sometimes and she’s just…great.”  Dipper finished with a lovesick sigh.

  
Bill’s grin turned a bit sharper, not that Dipper noticed, and let out a soft chuckle.

  
“Sounds like someone has a crush!”  The man chirped out cheerfully.

  
“Well, I, um, yeah.  Yeah, I do have a crush on her.”  Flustered, the boy with burning cheeks admitted it.  “She’s just so great and –Ow!”

  
Dipper was cut off from his lovesick ramblings when Bill suddenly made a very sharp turn and the preteen smacked his head against the window.

  
“Whoops, sorry about that Dipper!”  The pale man falsely apologized.  “I didn’t realize that this was my turn until it was almost too late.”

  
“Uh, that’s okay.”  Dipper let out a soft whine as he rubbed his head.

  
“So, you two hang out a lot?”

  
“Well,” The kid pushed his lips into what was definitely not a pout (it was).  “I would love to hang out with her more, even spend time when the two of us are working, but it’s been so busy that we haven’t really had time.  I would like to spend time with her when we’re off work except she’s got a jerk boyfriend.”  Folding his arms, Dipper sulked in silence for a bit.

  
Bill said nothing for a while which was for the best as Dipper’s mind had begun to drift a bit and he daydreamed about Wendy and punching Robbie in the face.  When finally shaken out of his woolgathering, Dipper looked around and found Bill turning from one of the main streets onto a small dirt road into the woods.

  
“Wow, you actually live in the woods?  I bet you see lots of the monsters and creatures here!”  Dipper spoke as he turned in his seat and watched as Gravity Falls seemed to vanish and the trees swallow them up.

  
“Yep.  I live pretty secluded actually. It’s nice because I like my privacy, but it can be a pain when I need something convenient.”

  
Dipper looked around, taking in the woods and then sitting up straight when a house came into view.  It looked old in the form that it was a wooden house instead of bricks like the rest of the newer houses in Gravity Falls.  A two level house in need of pain and some love, but other than that, it seemed just fine.  Bill parked in a gravel drive way and turned the car off.

  
“Welcome to my home Dipper!”  Bill smiled widely and the boy couldn’t help but smile back, even with his insides twisting nervously.  Suddenly his parent’s words of not going into a stranger’s home echoed in his mind but Dipper stamped them out.  Bill was Dipper’s friend and there was no reason to be nervous about going to a friend’s house right? 

  
The two got out of the car and grabbed some of the bags of groceries and Dipper followed Bill to the front door.  Bill, even though his hands were filled with bags, expertly pulled his key ring out and found the house key and unlocked the door. Pushing the door open, Bill led Dipper inside to his house.

  
The first few steps inside led to what seemed to be a large living room.  A worn out but comfy looking couch was situation in the middle of the room, facing a small and old looking block of a TV which sat against the wall closest to the door.  A small and aged brown coffee table sat in front of the couch.

  
Looking around some more, Dipper could see two open doorways and he followed Bill into the one directly in front of them.  As they passed the one on his left, Dipper noted that it was a dining room.  Bill led him into a kitchen and set his bags of groceries down on the pearly white counter.

  
The kitchen was roomy and had an old fashioned taste to it.  The tiles on the ground were checkered black and white, although the white had turned a bit yellow due to age.  The counter had cuts imbedded in it and some stains that looked like they would never come off no matter how much  it was scrubbed.

  
“I’m going to go get the rest of the bags, just stay here for a sec and I’ll be right back.”  Bill was out the through the doorway before Dipper could even offer his help so the boy just sighed and looked around the kitchen some more. 

  
The kitchen seemed normal enough and honestly, it seemed as much of a bachelor pad that Dipper had imagined it to be.  There were dishes in the sink that looked like they had been used days ago but that Bill had still not gotten around to cleaning them.  Sneaking a peek in the fridge, Dipper realized just how badly Bill had needed to go shopping.  The fridge was almost bare; it held a half empty container of prune juice, a bottle of mustard, a container with two eggs, and a slab of butter.  Shaking his head in disbelief, Dipper walked over to some of the bags and started to pull out the refrigerated items.  Before he could even pull those items out of the bag though, something else caught Dipper’s attention. 

 

There was a door.  The door didn’t seem particularly strange to Dipper, but it did prod at the boy’s curious nature.  Standing in front of it, Dipper went to touch the cool metal handle when suddenly something pulled him backwards.

  
“Wha-!”  Dipper squawked loudly as the suddenness of it and whirled around on his heel to come face to face with Bill, who had an eyebrow raised and a hand out to steady Dipper so the preteen didn’t fall and his other hand filled with the bags of groceries.

  
“What are you doing Dipper?”  Bill asked in a rather stern voice.

  
Dipper gulped slightly and he could feel his cheeks growing red in shame.

  
“A-ah, sorry!  I was just wondering what was behind that door.  I didn’t mean to snoop or anything.”  Dipper rubbed the back of his head nervously, his eyes not meeting Bill’s completely.

  
The man’s fingers grasped Dipper’s chin and gently, but firmly, forced him to look up at him.

  
“Hey, I forgive you.  It’s not like I didn’t tell you not to go through my things…though I guess I thought it would’ve been obvious.  I’m kidding!”  Bill added at the last moment, seeing Dipper’s guilty face.  “But listen, that door leads to the basement and that’s off limits, okay?  It’s still a mess from the animal that I had to kill and all the other clutter.  So, no going down there, capiche?”

  
“Capiche.”  Dipper parroted back, nodding.

  
Bill smiled widely, teeth shining brightly.

  
“Wonderful!  Now, help me put these groceries away.”

 

The two of them got to work, making little conversation as they were both so strangely comfortable in each other’s presence that words were not need to fill the space between them.  Soon the fridge and the cupboards which were once barer then the Sahara, were now full of food and such goodies.

  
“Well,” Bill spoke, his grin matching Dipper’s, “I think after all that work we deserve a treat right?”  Opening a cupboard door, the man’s long arms were able to easily grab a box of cereal he had set in there.

  
Dipper grin’s widened and was quick to grab the silverware and bowls from where Bill directed him they were at.  Bill grabbed the milk out of the fridge and ushered Dipper into the dining room which was adjacent to the kitchen.  Sitting down at the wooden table, Bill took the head chair closest to the kitchen while Dipper sat on his right.

  
“Now, you’re gonna show me just what is so great about this cereal.”

  
“I thought you were just gonna sit down and eat the entire box of cereal in front of me.”

  
Bill sniffed dramatically as he looked down at Dipper.

  
“Well, I’ve decided that for my one act of kindness for the week, I’ll let you have some of this cereal as well.”

  
“Wow, one act of kindness for the week?  Isn’t that a bit much for you?”  Dipper teased.

  
“Yes, but I only do so because I am a very generous person and I like you.  But don’t expect any more though; I’ve hit my quota.”

  
The brown haired boy laughed to hide just how much of Bill’s admittance of liking him effected him.  Dipper wasn’t sure why his stomach seemed to become warm and began to twist up so much, but he understood that just hearing Bill say those words made him so happy.  Even after a few moments, the feeling didn’t fade completely, but it wasn’t as affective.

  
Bill reached towards the milk and was ready to pour the milk into the empty bowl when Dipper suddenly stopped him.

  
“What are you doing?”  The boy asked.

  
“Uh,” Bill raised an eyebrow, “I’m putting milk in the bowl for the cereal?  I kinda thought that would’ve been obvious kid.”

  
“No, no, no! You’re doing it wrong!”

  
“What.”  Bill deadpanned.  “Is there some sort of etiquette for cereal eating that I didn’t know about?”  The man chuckled, but quickly trailed off after seeing Dipper’s serious looking face.  “Aaah?  Is there really such a thing?”

  
“Yes.”  Dipper took the milk from the bemused man and set it down on the table.  “The _proper_ way to eat cereal is to put the cereal in the bowl first, _then_ add the milk.  Like this,”

  
Dipper picked up the box of sugary cereal and quickly opened it.  Slowly pouring the sugary substance, Dipper watched the cereal with narrowed eyes and would stop dumping it in before grabbing his spoon, and spreading the mass down so that it was as flat as could be.  Dipper began to pour the cereal again before flattening it again one it was about half way.  Nodding his head in satisfaction, Dipper smiled and turned to Bill.

  
“There you go; the perfect proportions for the milk to cereal ratio!  Now I’m ready to eat!”

  
Bill, whose shoulders had been shaking since the beginning of Dipper’s lesson, finally let out loud braying like laughter.  When Bill finally stopped, it wasn’t because of Dipper’s slightly impressive glare (he was getting better!), but because he had finally ran out of air.

  
“O-oh,” The blond haired man wheezed and leaned over the table and trying to catch his breath. “Wow.  You are…are…something.  I don’t know a proper title for you, but kid, you are something special.”  Bill sat up in his chair, holding his side which hurt from all his laughing, and reached over and grabbed Dipper’s hat off the preteen’s head.

  
“Hey!”  Dipper reached for it but Bill kept it out of reach with a grin and used his other hand to mess up the boy’s hair.  “Stop that!”

  
Laughing along with Bill, Dipper pulled away and grinned back at the man, seemingly given up on trying to get his hat back.  Bill’s hand, which had been messing up Dipper’s already messy hair frantically, slowed and began to attempt to flatten the mess he had contributed to.  Dipper sat still, his eyes staring at the table while feeling a bit strange, although he enjoyed Bill’s surprisingly gentle touch.  Soon though, it was over and Dipper’s hat was placed back on top of his head.  Looking up from the table, the boy watched as Bill reached over his bowl to grab the cereal and began to pour.

  
“Wow, laughing at your crazy ticks made me starved.”  Bill grabbed the milk shortly after, filling it up so much that some of the cereal fell out of the bowl.  He ignored Dipper’s silent judging and picked up his spoon and dug right into the sugary cereal and shoved a spoonful right into his mouth.

Dipper, who had gotten his own spoonful of perfect ration of milk and cereal on one spoon, was eating his own cereal while watching Bill with interest.  The man, who had taken the first bite with such gusto, had slowed his chewing and was making some strange expressions.  Finally gulping down harshly, Bill took a deep breath and put down his spoon.

  
“Dipper,” Bill spoke in an even tone, glaring at the cereal.  “What the hell is this?”

  
“Uh,” Dipper’s mouth was full and he hurriedly finished chewing and swallowed.  “It’s cereal.”

  
“It taste like cardboard covered in sugar.”

  
“Yeah, well, that’s most kid’s cereals.”

  
“I paid four dollars for sugary cardboard.  I could’ve just eaten the box if wanted something like that.”

  
Dipper rolled his eyes and continued eating.

  
“I don’t know what I expected…definitely not this.”  Bill propped his chin into his palms that he set on the table and glared at the bowl of sugary deception.

  
“Wow Bill, it’s like you’ve never had cereal before by the way you’re acting.”  Dipper laughed at the ridiculous thought and raised his spoon to take another bite.  He stopped when he realized that he was the only one laughing.  Putting his spoon back down in the half empty bowl, Dipper looked at Bill.

  
The man gave him a half sheepish grin, half grimace when Dipper looked at him in horror.

  
“How have you never had cereal?!?  It’s, like, the staple of every child’s morning to eat!”

  
Bill shrugged and threw his arms in the air.

  
“I had a pretty different childhood Dipper, what do you want me to say?  I don’t think I ever really experienced the ‘normal’ things most kids talk about.”

  
Opening his mouth to say something, Dipper stopped and closed it.  When he looked at Bill again, the man was surprised and found himself strangely nervous about the kid’s growing grin.

  
“What.  What is with that grin Pine Tree?”

  
Dipper only grinned wider.

  
“You’re starting to freak me out kid, say something!”

  
Nothing except Bill thought he saw malicious glee in Dipper’s eyes.

  
“Oh my god, I broke Dipper Pines.  I broke him and I don’t even have the instructions to fix him!”  Bill poked Dipper’s cheeks and that brought out a different reaction.

  
“Hey!”

  
Bill let out an over exaggerated sigh of relief.

  
“Oh good, you’re okay.  I thought you had gone brain dead for a moment.”  Even as he said that, he kept poking the boy’s cheek.

 

Laughing, Dipper pushed him away.

  
“No, I wasn’t broken.  I just realized that you really don’t seem to know anything, do you?”

  
“Hey!” Bill scowled a little.  “I know lots of things…Lots and lots of things.”  The last part was spoken with an eerie sort of whisper, making Dipper’s grin slide only slightly before he shook his body of the creepy feelings.  Bill was so weird sometimes.

  
“No, I just mean the kinds of things normal kids take for granted.  You said you didn’t really have a normal childhood, and never really trying cereal?  Well, that just shows how deprived you are!”

  
“Oh yes, deprived of a sugar coated breakfast that tastes like cardboard; how have I even lived?”  Bill spoke dryly.

  
“You need a full lesson on normal things, and I am willing to take the burden of being your teacher.”  Dipper took another

 

Bill mouthed the word ‘burden’ silently with a slightly insulted look but instead of saying anything, just watched Dipper eat the rest of his cereal.  When the kid was done with his bowl, the blond haired man pushed his bowl of now soggy cereal towards him.  Dipper grinned in thanks and Bill just gave a lazy smile and watched with his head cradled in his left hand.

  
With both bowls now empty and Dipper seemingly full, the tall man took the bowls and went to set them in the sink.  Dipper, like a duckling, followed right behind him.  Putting an arm around the child, Bill led the boy into the living room.

  
“Now that you’ve taught me the wonders and proper ways of eating cereal, what else do you want to do?”  Bill teased gently.

  
“Uh, well,” Dipper looked around the room and curiously peered at a closed door and what looked like a staircase to the upper floor.  “I wouldn’t mind getting a tour maybe?”

  
Bill chuckled at the other’s hopeful tone. 

  
“Well of course!  You’ve already seen most of the first floor already, so this will be quick.” 

  
Bill pointed towards the single closed door in the room.

  
“That leads to this floor’s bathroom…and I think that’s it for this floor.  Wow, I forget how small this place is, heh.”  Bill, who’s arm was still around Dipper, squeezed the boy’s shoulder and led him towards the stairs.  “Now for something new!”

  
The two walked, or were pulled mostly in Dipper’s case, up the stairs and Dipper got his first look at the second floor of Bill’s house.  There was a small and dark hallway that led all the way to a door.  Halfway towards the door at the end of the hall, there were two doors on either side.  Bill let go of Dipper and went to open the door on the right.

  
“In here is the guest room, though it’s really bare.  Probably barer then your chest Pine Tree, ha!”

  
Dipper glared at the man for the jab but looked into room to see for himself.  It was as Bill had said; the room was empty except for a small bed, a desk and a single chair that looked as if it had seen many a better day. There was a door as well, and Dipper assumed it was a closet. The walls were a faded and almost dirty off white and the light streaming in through the blinds on the window did nothing to hide that. Dipper stepped back as Bill closed the door.

  
“Behind door number two!”

  
Opening the door with a flourish, Bill grinned and watched Dipper hesitantly walk into the room.

  
“Whoa…” Dipper exclaimed softly, letting out a small whistle as he took in the room.

  
It was a study, with a desk and chair in front of them and all around Dipper were bookcases with their shelves filled to the brim with books. 

  
So. Many. Books.

  
The boy walked in, so focused on the books that he nearly ran into the stuffed armchair which sat in front of a small fireplace.  Ignoring Bill’s snickering, Dipper moved, and on impulse, sat down in the chair and nearly sank into it.  Legs and arms flailing, the preteen boy struggled to get out of the chair’s grasp and not get eaten alive by it.  He was finally saved when Bill grabbed his arm and pulled him out.  Gasping for breath, Dipper gave him a weak grin.

  
“T-thanks.” He mumbled as his cheeks became hot, feeling embarrassed that he had to be saved from a chair, of all things.

  
“Don’t mention it.”  Bill hummed as he stood back, letting Dipper look around.

  
Books that varied from works of fiction that Dipper had heard of, to some theoretical stuff like explaining physics or advance mathematics and even some children’s books were mixed between all the books.  So crammed together, Dipper didn’t dare take one out for fear the books would push outward and spill onto the ground.

  
“Wow Bill, you sure like to read.”

  
“Yeah, I guess so.” Bill merely shrugged off Dipper’s amazement.  “What can I say; I like knowing things.”

  
“Do you think I can read some of these sometime?”

  
“Sure kid, whenever you want.  You got all summer to read whatever you want.”

  
Dipper’s face nearly split in two at the thought that those words meant that he was welcomed back.  His heart did a jig in his chest and the boy had to contain himself from doing the same on the outside.

  
“Come on, you can read books later you nerd.  Let me show you the rest of the house.”

  
Dipper followed Bill out, but not before sending a last longing look at the books before his view was cut short by the closing of the study’s door.

  
Walking down the hall towards the last door, Bill opened the door at the end of the hall and walked in.  Dipper hurried to follow the man’s long strides and stepped into a dark room.  Unable to see anything, the preteen froze and stretched his arms out, reaching for Bill or any kind of light switch.

  
“Bill?”

  
“Ah, just one moment Dipper!  I’m getting the blinds right now.”

  
There were sounds of footsteps but it sounded all around him in the dark room.  An uneasiness filled him, and just as Dipper was about to step back into the hall where it was lighter, but not by much, suddenly there was light.

Blinking the sudden lights out of his eyes, Dipper squinted and looked around.

  
Bill was on one side of a large queen sized bed, in front of one of the windows and pulling the blinds and making sure they stayed open.  Walking around the bed to the other side, Bill opened the blinds for the other window; bring even more light into the room.

  
Now that he could finally see, Dipper began to look around the room.  It was obviously a bedroom, as if the bed in front of him wasn’t a big enough clue. There were clothes spewed all around on the ground and in piles.  Some clothes were actually folded, but not done very neatly.  Some of the clothes looked new but had yet to be worn or washed, while others looked old and well worn and honestly looking like something like a man much older than Bill would wear.  Dipper wondered why Bill had such clothes, as he couldn’t see the other male wearing such things like plaid shirts and the like.

The bed was neatly made but it was obvious to Dipper’s keen eye that one side was used more than the other by the slight indent in the mattress.  The comforter and covers were a navy blue, along with the covers that Dipper could see poking out from underneath.  The pillows were both a lighter blue then the rest of the bed, but the fit comfortably with the rest of the colors.

Looking around some more, Dipper saw a wooden wardrobe and drawer against the wall to his left.  Just left to the drawer, was another door that had been left open and revealed a bathroom from what Dipper could see.  Walking inside and peering in, the brunette let out a small whistle when he saw how big it was.  It was at least half the size of the bedroom, but it didn’t have much furnishing besides a large tub which could also be used as a shower, a toilet, and a sink and mirror.  Even the curtain on the tub was a plain white to match the white tiles on the ground and the white walls.  It was very bland to Dipper and he knew that if his sister was here, she’d want nothing more to do then to slap some paint on the walls.  Part of him wanted to do that as well, just because the white was a bit of an eyesore.

  
“Wow Bill,” Dipper turned to the man who was leaning against the open doorway watching him with a small grin. “Your house sure is…”  Dipper hesitated, trying to find a good word.  “Kind of vacant?  I mean, kind of.  It isn’t that bad honestly, just empty at some parts.”

  
“Yeah, it really is.” Bill shrugged, not too concerned.  “It’s an old house too, so there is still a lot I need to clean out and decide what to throw out and to what to keep.  But its home at the moment and it’s _mine_ so I’m not too picky about everything at the moment.”  The man flashed a sharp grin and there was something flashing in his eyes for just a brief second that Dipper was unable to decipher.

  
Bill walked out of the bathroom and Dipper followed once more.  As Dipper walked down the stairs to the first floor alongside Bill, he looked at Bill’s house and while it was in the need of a scrubbing and fresh paint, Dipper couldn’t help but feel a bit envious of the older man.

  
“It must be so nice to have this entire place to yourself.”  He spoke softly once they reached the living room.  Even with his voice soft, he could have just as well been yelling by from how silent it was in the house.

  
“It is at times.  I don’t have to ask others when I do things, I can just go do them whenever I want.  I get lots of privacy of course but there are cons to it.”  Sitting down on the sofa, Bill kicked off his shoes and put his feet up on the small coffee table in front of it.  He reached up to his neck and started to loosen his tie as Dipper sat down beside him.

  
“I’m alone a lot, hell, I’m alone all the time for the most part.  I live far out in the woods and these past couple of weeks has been one thing after another.  It’s very lonely; Pine Tree, but these past couple of times that I’ve hung out with you have simply lifted my spirits.”

  
Dipper was sure that all his internal body organs stopped that moment when Bill looked at him.  The blond haired man gave him a small smile; he almost looked _shy_ of all things, and with a sudden start Dipper could feel his lungs and heart kicking back into overdrive.

  
“O-oh?”  Blood rushed to his face, Dipper looked down to his lap and kicked his legs nervously.  “Well, you’ve definitely made my entire summer tons better to be honest.  I love hanging out with my sister, Soos, Wendy and sometimes even Stan, but it’s so nice to have my own friend.  I-I’m glad we’re friends Bill.”

  
With half-lidded eyes, Bill’s small grin grew and the man put an arm around the kid, pulling him close to his side.

  
“Aw, P.T., you’re so sweet.”  He crooned and pretended to swoon and fall on the younger male, who laughed and attempted to push him off.

  
The two of them laughed and fooled around; Bill giving Dipper a playful noogie and Dipper attempting to put him in a choke hold but ultimately failing.  They ended their playing as Bill reached for the TV remote and turned on the tube.  For the next couple of hours, the two switched from watching movies and TV shows to telling stories (or really, Dipper telling his encounters of his weirdness and Bill listening attentively).

  
Too soon though, the sunset began to stream through the windows and announce the time to them.

  
“Whoa, is that really the time?” Dipper was shocked when he looked at the time, double checking his watch just to make sure.

  
Whistling lowly, Bill got up and stretched before sitting back down and putting his shoes back on.

  
“Guess so.  Time sure flies when you’re having fun, eh Pine Tree?”

  
“I guess.”  Dipper mumbled a bit sadly, putting his own shoes, which he had kicked off during one of the movies, back on.

  
“Come on now, you can’t possibly be sad can you?  After all the time we spent together today, and you’re still sad?”  Bill clucked his tongue and poked Dipper on the nose.  “Nope.  I won’t accept that.  How can that be possible?!?”

  
Giggling a little at Bill’s dramatics, Dipper finished tying his shoes.

  
“I know it’s silly, but I was kinda hoping that this day wouldn’t end just yet.  I mean, today has been fun!  I really enjoyed hanging out with you Bill, so thanks for having me over.”

  
“Oh wow, so you can be polite?  Be still my heart!”

  
Dipper punched Bill’s arm, which made him wail dramatically.

  
“P.T., you broke my arm!  And this was my favorite arm! I even named him ‘Army’.”

  
“Oh my god,” Dipper whispered, shaking his head but grinning all the while.

  
Seeing Dipper smiling once again, Bill grinned widely himself and grabbed the keys to his truck.

  
“Come on, I’ll drive you home real quick.”

  
Without locking up the house, Bill herded Dipper into the truck. 

  
The ride to the Mystery Shack was an amiable silence between the two.  The only noise was the radio and Bill’s occasional humming.  Dipper had to keep opening his eyes every few seconds the entire ride home.  He felt just so exhausted for some reason and reasoned that it was just because he had such an emotionally exciting day.  Looking over at Bill, Dipper almost wished he could be as chipper as him.  Almost.

  
Bill stopped at where the road started up to the Mystery Shack and gave an apologizing smile to Dipper.

  
“I’m just gonna drop you off here so your Uncle doesn’t think I’m some weird creep, okay?”

  
“But you are a weird creep.”  Dipper cheekily replied.

  
“Maybe so, but I’m a creep that you call a friend, so ha!”

  
Rolling his eyes, Dipper opened the truck door and jumped out.

  
“See you tomorrow?”  He asked hopefully.

  
“Ah, sorry kiddo, but I can’t tomorrow.  I have too many things going on that I need to finish up.”

  
“Anything I can help with?”

  
“No, nothing that I can think of.”

  
“Oh, okay.”  Dipper pouted slightly.

  
“Don’t worry though; we’ll hang out soon though, okay?  Hey, I got an idea, why don’t I take you swimming at this cool little place I know?  We can cool off and maybe make a picnic or whatever.  It’ll be fun!”  Bill gave an encouraging grin to Dipper; he got a wide one in return.

  
“Yeah, that sounds great!  So I’ll meet you at our usual spot the day after tomorrow?”  Dipper asked eagerly.  Bill stifled a chuckle as he almost imagined a pair of dog ears and a wagging tail on the puppy that was Dipper Pines.

  
“Of course!  See you then!”

  
Dipper watched Bill drive off and feeling light and giddy for the next time he would see Bill, the boy made his way up the path to the Mystery Shack and walked inside.  Walking past the living room, Dipper was stopped by Stan who sat in his chair watching TV.

  
“Hey kid, where have you been all day?”  The older man spoke gruffly, only eyeing Dipper for a second before turning back to the screen.

  
“Oh, uh, just out and about.”  Dipper attempted for casual but he was sure he probably failed by the way Stan turned away from the screen to look at him with a raised eyebrow.

  
Stan stared at him with such an intensity that made Dipper fidget nervously.

  
“You aren’t doing drugs are you?”  Stan finally said after a while.  “Because I really don’t want a reason for the police to come and do a raid on this place.  Plus I won’t stand for all that hippie, free love shit that comes with whatever Wendy and her friends smoke.”

  
“What!?” Dipper was flabbergasted.  “No, no!  I was just out all day, doing legal and nonthreatening things.”

  
Stan eyed him a bit longer before settling back in his chair.

  
“You missed dinner.  There are scraps in the kitchen if you’re hungry.”

  
Still feeling frazzled and tired, Dipper decided to skip dinner and decided that sleep was the most important thing on his list of needs at the moment.  Passing the bathroom, he could hear the shower running and his sister’s loud and obnoxious singing of some boy band song.  Walking past, Dipper walked up the stairs to the attic.

  
Once inside, the preteen boy let out a long and deep sigh.  He set his hat and jacket on the chair and pulled off his shoes.  With barely enough energy to even pull back the covers, Dipper fell on his pillow and fell asleep immediately.  He fell so deep asleep and couldn’t be awaken.  Not when Mabel came in and poked him for a bit before finally leaving him alone, and not when he had strange dreams that just didn’t seem to make any sense.

  
Dipper slept and recovered what energy had been lost.

  
**  
XxXxXxXx **

****

Robbie sat on his girlfriend’s bed tuning his guitar and strumming a bit but stopped when he heard another frustrated groan.

  
“Babe, what are you doing?”  He asked,

  
Wendy, who was currently sitting on the floor of her room and going through a huge stack of her yearbooks, had just put down the last one.

  
“I’m trying to find where I know that guy from.  I know I’ve seen him before, I just know it.”  Wendy pulled at her hair a bit before standing and walking over to her bed where she proceeded to flop down on it face first.

  
“Him?”  Robbie made a confused and slightly worried face. Who was this guy and should he be threatened by him?

  
Wendy raised her head and shot her boyfriend an annoyed look.

  
“You know, the guy I’ve been talking about since you’ve got here?  That weird guy who was hanging out with Dipper?”

  
Loosing all concern and interest, Robbie grunted. 

  
“Oh.  Wendy, I don’t understand why you’re so caught up on this.  So the dork found some other person to bother; maybe now I’ll have you to myself for once.”  He mumbled the last part but Wendy wasn’t even listening to that.

  
“You weren’t there Robbie, you didn’t see this guy.  He was super weird, like, he reminded me of someone or something but I can’t put my finger on it.  Plus, he seemed like he was older then us and he’s hanging out with Dipper _.  A twelve year old_.”

  
Robbie actually paused tuning his guitar and looking up at his girlfriend with wide eyes.

  
“Whoa, you don’t think he’s like, _like that_ do you?” Surprise and a little bit of disgust filled Robbie’s tone.

  
“Yes!”  Wendy nearly shouted with relief at the fact Robbie was finally getting it.  “I know you two don’t always get along, but something like this is serious.  Dipper could be in trouble!”

  
“First off, don’t you think you could possibly overreacting?  Second, if say this is true, what do we do?  Go to the police?”

  
“The police won’t do anything unless we have proof or something.  But how in the world do we find proof?” 

  
Wendy closed her eyes and thought hard about what to do.  Robbie stayed quiet, not even touching the guitar strings as he knew Wendy needed to think, and if he interrupted that she would be upset at him.

  
“Wait!”  The teenage girl sat up from the bed suddenly.  “Dipper said his name is Bill Cipher and the guy himself that he used to live here in Gravity Falls a long while ago, so they’ve got to have his name down in the archives right?”

  
“Oh no,” Robbie groaned, knowing where this was going.  “Don’t tell me-!”

  
“We’re going to the library!  There has to be something about this Bill Cipher there.”

  
Robbie groaned again and flopped backwards on the bed.

  
“Man, when school let out for the summer, I totally thought I wouldn’t have to set foot in that place until September.”

  
“Well tough.  We’re going, so get ready.”

  
Robbie sat up and looked at the clock and a grin of relief crossed his face.

  
“Babe, it’s too late to go to the library today; they’re closed.”

  
Wendy, looking at the clock, found that Robbie was in fact correct.  Sighing to herself, the red head sat back down and let out a small groan of frustration.

  
“Why do we even need to go to the library?  Can’t we just look up his name on the internet or something?”

  
“Don’t you think I’ve tried that already?  His name doesn’t cause anything to show up, which is weird in itself. Robbie, I never planned on going to the library this summer either but it’s the only choice we have.”

  
Letting out an agonizing sigh, Robbie nodded in agreement.

  
“Okay, fine.”  He gave her a little smile.  “You’re lucky you’re so cute.”

  
Wendy rolled her eyes and smacked her boyfriend with a pillow.  Robbie quickly retaliated after scrambling to grab his own pillow to hit her back.  The two started an all out pillow fight, and for a few moments, the two forgot about their worries about what kind of man Bill Cipher was.  They lived for the moment and enjoyed the freedom of just being young.

  
They were so caught up in the moment, that they didn’t notice that high above their heads, on one of Wendy’s shelves, a small and old stuffed cat seemed to be watching them with its glassy eyes.  For a brief second, the blankness in its eyes disappeared with a flash of gold.

  
 But just as quick as it had come, it had disappeared.

 

** TBC **

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First of all, I AM SO SORRY.
> 
> I am so, so, so, SOSOSO sorry this took so long. Between work, this chapter kicking my ass, and my own laziness, this took so much longer then it should have. I would get done on my hands and knees of all of you if I could but I figured you'd rather have the new chapter then that.
> 
> This chapter was a bitch, to put it lightly. I hate that it feels so much like fucking filler, but it's also very important because it's leading up to next chapter (which is one of the most important chapters tbh).
> 
> Next chapter might take me a bit because I want it to be perfect, but I don't want it to be as bad as this past chapter has been.
> 
> SO, what I'm asking for all you lovely readers out there is if possible if you would check in on me? Maybe send me messages on tumblr and bug me to make sure I'm working on the next chapter? Please? It would help me a lot to get my butt in gear.
> 
>  
> 
> Thanks again for reading this story of mine and waiting so patiently!! If you have any questions, feel free to ask here or on tumblr. I can't promise though that I'll answer any as they might be spoilers.
> 
> :D


	6. Secrets Revealed (QR FUBLQJ XQWLO WKH HQG)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wendy enlists her boyfriend Robbie to help her try and find out about who this strange man "Bill Cipher" is and just what he wants with Dipper.

It was late morning when Dipper finally made his way downstairs for breakfast, still clad in his pajamas of his red shirt and shorts.  When he walked in, Grunkle Stan was in front of the stove, actually cooking for once, and Mabel was at the table still in her pajamas as well.  His sister seemed excited for some reason as she was grinning widely at the back of the old man’s back.  She beckoned him close, and once he finally sat down and leaned towards Mabel, she whispered in his ear.

  
“Dipper, while you were gone the other day I looked through your journal and I found something to stop Grunkle Stan from lying so much!  Now with the magic golden truth telling teeth, Grunkle Stan won’t ever lie again!”  Mabel grinned widely, looking extremely proud of herself.

  
“You what!?  That seems like a horrible idea!”  Dipper whispered back to his sister.

  
“It’s great; now he has to tell the truth!”  Mabel insisted.

  
Dipper paused and actually thought about it.  Stan actually telling the truth?  Would it actually work?  Deciding to test it out, Dipper looked at Stan as the old man came to the table with a frying pan of what he called scrambled meat.

  
“Stan, what do you in secret everyday on your lunch break?”

  
“Usually I spend the hour aggressively scratching myself in places I shouldn’t mention.  Now I’m going to avoid making eye contact by pretending to read this newspaper.  And go to the bathroom without washing my hands.”

  
“Ewwww!”  The twins let out cries of disgust in unison as their Grunkle Stan quickly shuffled out of the kitchen.

  
“Well that was disturbing.”  Dipper shuttered as he turned to look at his sister and gave her a look.

  
“Don’t worry Dipper; the truth is always a good thing!”

  
Dipper pursed his lips but didn’t say anything to ruin his sister’s optimism.  Instead he took a fork and began poking at their ‘breakfast’ and made sure to split it and put half on Mabel’s plate.  The girl smiled at him as thanks before that smile turned to a grimace as she tried the food laid out in front of her.  The preteen boy watched his sister get up and make a beeline for the fridge.  She reached into it and quickly pulled out a bottle of ketchup and made her way back over to the table and promptly coated her scrambled meat with the condiment.

  
“It needs a little ketchup.”

  
“Just a little.”  Dipper echoed back sarcastically.

  
Mabel stuck her tongue out and smirked superiorly when Dipper reached for the ketchup as well.  While he didn’t completely cover his food in it, a good portion of the meat was coated.  After they finished eating, the pair cleaned up the dishes before heading upstairs to change clothes for the day.  Just as they had finished changing, the two heard Stan yelling for them along with a tourist bus pulling in front of the Mystery Shack.

  
“Time to watch the magic work!”  Mabel, who had been lying on her bed, rolled off it and landed on her feet and took off towards the door and down the stairs.

  
Dipper followed at a steadier pace, so by the time he made it downstairs, Dipper could hear Stan taking the group of tourists on tour.  He walked into the gift shop and found Mabel getting things ready before going to stand behind the register.  She waved at Dipper as he came in.

  
“There you are slow poke!  Grunkle Stan has already taken the tourists on the tour.”

  
The preteen boy shrugged and leaned against the counter from the opposite side that Mabel was on.

  
“So has those teeth worked yet?”

  
“Hmm,” Mabel twirled a piece of hair around her finger in contemplation.  “Well, when the tourists showed up he said ‘Welcome to the best Mystery Shack in town!’”

  
“Mabel, this is the only Mystery Shack in town.”

  
“Well, he was telling the truth now wasn’t he?”

 

Twenty minutes later, which had been filled with the two bickering good naturally and getting ready for the tourists, the touring group finally made its way into the gift shop.  Stan was holding a huge wad of money and he booted Mabel out from behind the register so he could reach it.  Dipper flittered around people, answering questions that anyone had and making sure some of the younger kids didn’t destroy things.  Dipper was putting a shirt back on its rack when Stan’s voice suddenly shouted through the gift shop.

 

“Hey everybody, look at this guy’s abnormal and unattractive face!”  


  
Shocked muttering came from the tourists and Dipper could only watch with wide eyed horror as Mabel let the man Stan had just embarrassed out and apologizing.  Well, that was painful but it couldn’t get worse then that right?

  
Right?

 

** XxXxXxXx **

**  
**It was already late in the day when Robbie groaned loudly and dramatically as he plopped himself down in the passenger seat of Wendy’s car.

  
“You big baby.”  Wendy rolled her eyes at her boyfriend’s actions.

  
“C’mon Wends; we could totally go do something else!  It’s not too late to catch that movie I was telling you about; I bet Thompson would totally let us in with a discount.”  Robbie pleaded.

  
Wendy gave the dark haired teen a half glare.

  
“No way dude; I told you that we’re going to the library.”

  
Robbie grumbled and crossed his arms, leaning against the car door without putting his seatbelt on.  He was much too cool to wear it.

  
“I don’t even see why I have to come.”  He muttered to himself.

  
The red haired teen sighed and rested her hand on her boyfriend’s leg.  Robbie momentarily stopped his pouting to uncross his arms and take her hand with his own and squeeze it.

  
“Because you want to make me happy and coming with me and helping me will make me happy.”  Wendy gave a small smirk, which Robbie replied with an easy grin.

  
“Yeah, I guess so.”

  
The drive to the library was easy enough between the two of them as they found simple things to talk about.  While they talked about many different subjects of things, the dark reasoning of why they were actually going to the library never left their mind but didn’t slip from their lips.  Neither really wanted to do this; to go and spend their summer day in the library of all places.  But Wendy was determined to put the horrible feeling in her gut to rest and solve this mystery that was Bill Cipher.

  
The couple soon made it to the library and after parking and walking to the front of the building, the two just stood for a moment and stared up at the imposing building.  It seemed dark and foreboding to them, but then again, it was most likely just because there wasn’t anyone in there.

  
“Well, let’s get this over with.”  Robbie slouched forward and grumbled as he shoved his hands back into his hoodie’s pockets.

  
Wendy gave a small smile to him before leading the way up the stairs and into the library.  The cool whoosh of air conditioning welcomed them and both teens sighed with relief.  Inside, Wendy’s guess of there not being many people in the library was proven true.  In fact, they didn’t see anyone except for a little old man that they knew was the sole librarian.  The old man, Mr. Kratz, had been there for as long Wendy could remember and he’s probably been there since before her old man went to school.

The teenage girl doesn’t bother to go talk to him as she knows that he probably didn’t even notice her and Robbie come in.  The only time the old man would look up from his work was if someone wanted to have something checked out; only once, of course, someone had shouted for him as the man always turned off his hearing aid and forgot to turn it back on.

Stalking towards the personal section, the part where she knew a book of all known Gravity Falls natives names, both past and present, were written in.  It was a big and old book, mostly handwritten if the ink stains and fingerprint smudges were anything to go by.  Wendy was careful with the book as it almost seemed like it could just turn to dust under her fingers.  Afraid that she might have to pay for any damages, she gently set it down on a nearby table and slowly opened the pages before skipping greatly towards the newer residents.

It was obvious once again that Mr. Kratz had written this as the writing looked like it was written with a shaky hand and it was nearly illegible because of that.  Wendy had to strain her eyes as she went slowly through the lists of names.

  
“Babe,” Wendy jerked as she suddenly lost her place.  She glared at her boyfriend who held up his hands in surrender.  “Sorry, I was just wondering if you were really thinking of going through all those names…There are a lot in there and that’s gonna take _forever_.” The darkly dressed teen groaned before pulling a chair out and slumping right into it.

  
“Isn’t there an easier way; like, don’t they have a computer you can search the info up or something?”

  
“Ugh, did I tell you yesterday?  I looked for everything I could for Bill Cipher and I came up with absolutely nothing.  Google didn’t even find similar matches; it was just nothing.”  Wendy furrowed her eyebrows a bit.  “Besides, you remember sixth grade when we had to do those stupid research papers for English class on what we wanted to be when we were older and we had to research how much we would make and other crap?”

  
“Oh yeah,” Robbie chuckled fondly.  “I put down rock star and said I’d make lots of money.”  Then the teen scowled. “I can’t believe she gave me an F on that; rock star is totally a real job!”

  
“No, not that!  What I meant was remember when we tried to ask Mr. Kratz if we could use his computer to see if we could look up some stuff?”

  
“I remember wanting to play games online and not do that stupid paper.” Robbie gave a sheepish grin.

  
“ _Well_ ,” Wendy stressed the first word, staring at Robbie as she did so.  “I remember the long ass rant he gave us about how computers were making kids lazy and how if we wanted to get any research done, we had to do it the old fashion way.”

  
“Oh yeah…Didn’t we go back to Lee’s house and use his computer to look everything up?”

  
“Yep!  But what I’m trying to say is that we aren’t gonna get far with computers, if he even has any in here.”

  
“So,” A look of distaste crossed Robbie’s face.  “We’re gonna have to read the actual books?  Like, small words on paper?  No backlight or anything?”

  
“Yep.”

  
“I hope you appreciate just how much I’m going through for you.”

  
“I have you wrapped around my finger.”  Wendy grinned teasingly as Robbie glared at her.

  
Robbie grabbed a random book from the section his girlfriend had taken from and idly flipped through it.  He sighed as did so, not even really looking at the pages.  The dark haired teen turned to look at his girlfriend and noticed that she had a look of concentration on her face.  Deciding that he didn’t want a fight, which he knew would start the moment if Wendy realized he wasn’t working.  Starting at the beginning seemed like a good enough.

  
History had never been his favorite subject; too boring and teachers who were too dry with the subject had dissolved any flame of interest in it long ago.  As he flipped through the pages lazily though, he noticed that it was mostly names of people, their births and their deaths.  Everything was very meticulously filled out, but there was something weird.  Some of the dates by the deaths had question marks next to the year of the dates.  Doing some quick and basic math, Robbie was able to figure out that most of the children had been under thirteen, the oldest having been fifteen.

  
“Tch.”  He scoffed slightly, “Dysentery.”

  
And so he moved on.  The years in the book went by quickly as nothing seemed too out of place happened.  A few more question marks appeared next to death dates, but they started to thin out.  The writing was getting harder and harder to read but Robbie could begin to recognize names of the people, even though they were mostly the last names.  Hey, growing up in a small town, everyone knew everyone’s names.  He was on the last few pages when he saw a name that made him stop in surprise.

  
“What the hell?”  He didn’t even realize he had spoken aloud until Wendy looked up from her own book.

  
  
“Find something?”

  
“I guess?  I dunno, it’s weird at least.”

  
Handing his girlfriend the book, he pointed to the name.  Wendy squinted a bit, attempting to read the name when she blinked and gaped in shock.

  
“Huh?  Is this a joke or something?”

  
“I don’t think so.” Frowning thoughtfully.  “But look, the name, it’s a bit different I think?”

  
“You think?”

  
“Well I don’t know!” Robbie scowled, beginning to get frustrated.  “I don’t work with the guy.  You should know though, so?”

  
Wendy stared down at the name that was inked into paper in barely legible handwriting.

  
 **Stanley Pines, March 19, 1932-1944 (?)**

**  
**“Stan _ley_ , not Stan _ford_ ; that is a bit strange.”

  
“And this whole, your boss is actually dead thing isn’t?” The emo teen gaped in shock at his girlfriend.  “O-Or that this is more of the strange Gravity Falls shenanigans?  Just the names?”

  
“Nah, Mr. Pines isn’t dead.  At least, not yet.  But this does raise some seriously strange questions.  Like one: Is this Mr. Pines’s brother? They would be around the same age if so.  And if so, how come we’ve never know about his brother until now?  Everyone and their families know of Stan Pines around here…How come we’ve never heard about Stanley?”

  
“Well,” Robbie shifted his weight to another food as he shrugged.  “Maybe he just doesn’t like to talk about it?  That seems reasonable doesn’t it?”

  
“Mr. Pines doesn’t really do reasonable, but I guess if he did, this would be the reason why…Why is there a question mark next to the year of death?  And why is there no day of death?  Just a year.”

  
“Dunno, it’s like that with all of them.”

  
“All of them?”  Wendy’s eyes scanned the other dates on the pages, but the other people had dates of deaths, with actual days, for the ones that were dead.  “What are you talking about?”

  
“Here, lemme show you.”  Taking the book from Wendy’s hands, none too gently, Robbie started to flip near the beginning where he knew were a multiple of those question marks.

  
“Whoa, what in the world?”  Wendy studied the pages in front of her more, before flipping to the first couple of pages.  The years started when Gravity Falls was founded, the name Northwest a prominent one that stood out on the page to Wendy.  Out of the many Northwest names, they must have had a large family at one point, only two had the question mark next to the single year of death.  Trying to read their first names was impossible as the names seemed smudged but the years of births added up to the age seven and that the two must have been twins.  Wendy continued to move through the pages, noting what Robbie had: that everyone with the question mark next to their name had been young, very young in some cases.

  
“Dysentery.”  Robbie spoke, startling the red haired girl out of her thoughts.

  
“What?”

  
“I was thinking, it’s gotta be dysentery or something, right?  I mean, that happened to people a lot back then right?  At least, if The Oregon Trail has ever taught me was true.”

  
“Robbie, I don’t think it’s that…I mean, others, even adults got dysentery as well back then.  But these are all kids…What happened to them?” Wendy sighed and pulled slightly at her hair when she reached the last page and there were no answers for her in the back of the book.

  
“Well, maybe we can find something out about this in some of the history books.”  Getting up from where she had sat herself down at a table, the teenager made her way towards the Town History section.

There were books there of course, but as Wendy and Robbie pulled several and started going through them, they realized that it was essentially the same things over and over again.

  
“What the hell?”  Throwing a book down, Wendy covered her face with her hands.  “Why are these history books so…empty?  They have the basic stuff, like the founding and other junk, but it just seems like there are gaps or just no real information at all.  How did we never notice this before?”

  
Robbie, who had been so against everything about this before, was slowly looking through the book with a strange look in his eyes.  Wendy was silent as she watched him go through the history book with the same concentration he had when he was playing his guitar

  
“Yeah,” He finally mumbled after a while, “This is really weird Wendy.”

  
“I know, right? Oh, and you know what?  Bill lied.  He wasn’t born here. I didn’t see his name anywhere in the ledger with all the other past and present Gravity Falls residents.  Hardly any Bills, and absolutely no Ciphers.”

  
“You sure?”

  
“Unless it was one of the names smudged, but I think I was able to tell enough that it wasn’t his.”

  
“So what, he’s just some creep who rolled into town?”

  
“Maybe.”  Robbie shrugged but Wendy could see all of this was beginning to get to her boyfriend.

  
For the next couple of hours, the two of them just sifted through all the books; pulling everything they needed off the shelves and leaving them on the multiple piles on the tables around them.  Sorting through them reveled nothing that they didn’t already know.  Somehow, multiple children had died, though the numbers of deaths had reduced drastically throughout the years and the last child being named Stanley Pines.  The only reason they knew they were connected was because of the continuous question marks.  There was nothing and never before had either teen ever realized just how little they actually knew about their hometown.

Wendy was pulling out the last couple of books out of a shelf nearest the wall when she saw something.  Painted on the far back of the bookcase was a switch, but the shape the switch actually took the form of something Wendy has seen several times.  It was that strange symbol that Stan wore on his fez that always reminded her of Pac-man.  Suspicion filled Wendy as for the first time that day, she actually thought: ‘What if Stan really does have something to do with this?’.

She may not love the guy as her boss, but outside of work he was okay.  He obviously loved the twins, even though he tried to hide that fact in hope to maintain his gruff nature.  She couldn’t even imagine that he would ever do something to hurt Dipper, or Mabel in fact.  So just in the world did he have to do with any of this?  All the clues were pointing to Stan having answers, but Wendy knew that he would never say anything, even if they shoved proof in his face.

Not knowing what else to do, Wendy reached forward and pushed the button.  The girl promptly dropped the books that were in her other arm when the plain wall beside her suddenly moved to the side, revealing a whole different room.

  
“Whoa!” Robbie shot up from where he was sitting, his chair falling over and clattering loudly.

  
“Shhh!” The red headed girl hissed at the other, both quickly turned their head to look where Mr. Kratz was and both let out a relieved sigh when the old man didn’t seem to notice.  Once they were sure that the librarian wasn’t going to come over and scold them for the mess they made, the two teens stood in the doorway of the hidden room looking into the inky blackness.

  
Robbie reached in, fumbling for a bit before he finally found a light switch, and turned it on.  A light turned on, but it wasn’t very strong.  It flickered a bit, momentarily sending them back into the darkness, but it was light enough for Wendy to see a banner with a bit of sunlight peaking through from behind it.  As she went to go and pull it down so the sun could light up the room, she realized that she recognized this symbol as well.  Another thing that Stan had, in fact, he had the exact same banner in the store.  Chalking it up on both ‘Things to interrogate Stan on’ and ‘Suspicious Stan things’, she pulled it down easily enough, and the sun did indeed flood the room and lightened things up.

 **  
**She looked around and let out a small whistle.  The room was simply packed with stuff, mostly papers. File cabinets were crammed around the room, but attempting to open them was futile as everyone was locked.  There was also a small desk against the wall with a well worn out chair in front of it.  On top of it was littered with papers and under said papers, Wendy noticed that something was sticking out from under it.  Walking over to the desk, she glanced a bit at the papers on top but didn’t find anything interesting or telling so she ignored them for now.  Pulling out what had caught her attention; Wendy found it to be a file with the same symbol that had been on the banner that she had taken down and the one that was in The Mystery Shack.  But the folder had a huge difference compared to the two banners: it had a title on it.

  
“The Royal Order of the Holy Mackerel” was written bolding across the front of the folder.

  
“Mackerel?  Is this some kind of weird indie band?”  Robbie asked as he looked over Wendy’s shoulder.

  
His girlfriend didn’t reply, as she started flipping through the pages of what appeared to be a report of some kind.  Frustratingly enough, certain things were blocked out with black out and there was no way to read what had once been there.  It almost seemed like one of those government conspiracies movies that Dipper loved to watch.  So much was marked out that just reading what was visible seemed like a puzzle.  As she was reading it though, something stood out.

  
 “Search for the Blind Eye” was another name that meant nothing to Wendy, but she mentally filed it away for later.  Even as she flipped through the file, more dates, some she recognized as historical dates of Gravity Fall’s history, some she didn’t recognize in the slightest.  If there were any names at all in the file, they were inked out.

  
“This is useless.” Slapping the file back down on the desk, Wendy hesitated before picking it back up before rolling it up and putting it in her back pocket and adjusting her flannel shirt so it hid it from sight.

  
“Why are you keeping that if it’s useless?” Robbie, who had been nervously shifting around the room while Wendy read, spoke in a whisper.

  
“I have a feeling Stan will know more about this.  Maybe if he knows, maybe he can explain things.  And I just know that Bill is somehow involved in all of this.”

  
“Okay, good.  You’ve got some sort of proof that you wanted so can we just go?” Again, Robbie was whispering and Wendy gave her boyfriend a strange look.

  
“Why are you whispering?”

  
“Because we’re not supposed to be here!  This place is totally a secret and if we’re found in here then we’re gonna be in some big trouble.”

  
Quirking an eyebrow, Wendy gave a small smirk at her boyfriend.

  
“I thought you didn’t care getting in trouble; that you were a bad boy?”

  
“Wends, this is some spooky shit.” Robbie sounded serious, and Wendy realized that he actually looked scared as well.  “This is the kind of stuff they talk about in movies where the main character comes across a secret and then they are hunted by the people who hide said secrets.”

  
“Dude, you’re getting paranoid.”

  
“Yeah, well, can we just get out of here? Please?”

  
“Fine.  We can come back later if we need to, but we’re going straight to the Mystery Shack.”

  
The two cautiously stepped out of the hidden room and looked around.  While Wendy had teased her boyfriend about being paranoid, she couldn’t help but feel like she was being watched and the feeling made a shiver run down her spine.  The two left the room and jumped when the hidden door slammed shut behind them.  Robbie made to run to the door, but Wendy stopped him and made him help her pick up the books and fill the shelves again; especially the one that had the switch hidden before.  They didn’t care what books were put where; they just shoved them anywhere there was space.  Wendy and Robbie left quickly, double checking to see if anyone was around.  They didn’t even see the librarian, Mr. Kratz, anywhere near the circulation desk.  Not bothering to look around and find him, the two teens bolted out the door and towards Wendy’s car.

Once inside, they locked the doors and Wendy took a moment to just breathe.  When her heart rate finally returned to a normal pace, she turned to her boyfriend and punched his shoulder.

  
“Ow!  What was that for?”  He whined, rubbing the now tender spot.

  
“For freaking me out, man!  There is no one after us; you’ve been watching too many movies.”  Wendy turns her keys and listens to the car start.  She straps her seatbelt back on and pulls out of the parking spot and goes straight onto the main road, cutting off several drivers aggressively, as she headed towards the road that would take her to The Mystery Shack.

  
It was when she was momentarily stopped at a red light that she took a look around and realized just how late it was.  The sun was setting looking at the car clock made her gape with shock as she realized she and Robbie had spent _hours_ in the library just searching for answers.  Answers, of course, they hadn’t found but instead found nothing but more questions and possible leads.  Turning onto the dirt path which lead a bit deeper into the woods and towards the Mystery Shack, Wendy, feeling uneasy and wanting to get to the Mystery Shack as soon as possible, started to press down on the gas pedal, forcing the car to push forward faster.

  
Wendy, while she could be an aggressive and to put it plainly, a teenage driver, she usually never looked away from the road.  So, to her surprise, for the quick moment she turned to look at Robbie and ask him a question, something happened.

  
“LOOK OUT!”  Robbie screamed.

  
Quickly, Wendy turned her eyes back to the road just in time to see a figure before she ran right into them.  She tried to slam on her breaks, but it was useless.  With two twin screams of fear, the two teens watched helplessly as Wendy’s car hit the person in the middle of the road.

  
Except; it didn’t.

  
Instead, it was as if they hit an invisible wall.  Wendy was harshly jerked forward, nearly out of her seat, hitting the glass and causing a spider web like crack to appear, but was ultimately held back by her seatbelt.  Robbie, who on the other hand hadn’t been wearing his seatbelt like usual, wasn’t as lucky.  He crashed through the windshield and went soaring through the air and when he finally hit the ground, Robbie made a sickening crunch and lay motionlessly in a heap.

Wendy, who had momentarily blacked out, struggled to realize what had happened.

  
“Ro-Robbie?”  She groaned weakly as she slowly turned to look at the passenger seat.

  
He wasn’t there; but where else could he be?  Wendy couldn’t focus.  Everything was blurry and strange sensation of something _spilling_ down her face.  The teen lifted a shaking hand, something that was much harder then she anticipated, and touched her face.  When she pulled her hand back, her hand was tarnished with blood.

  
“W-wha-?” Wendy looked out the now ruined windshield window and squinted. 

  
The man that Wendy was so sure she was going to hit was still there, right in front of her car, but between her hazy vision and the fact her headlights were too bright, she couldn’t see who the man was or what he looked like.  Just as she felt herself beginning to slip, and the edges of her vision begin to darken, the injured teen felt the strangest sensation.  She felt like she was being lifted of all things.  The sensation continued and as it did, Wendy had to blink several times and attempted to shake the fog from her mind when she realized that the feeling of being lifted into the air wasn’t just a symptom of a concussion, or whatever was wrong with her. 

_  
The car was actually being lifted into the air._

  
Wendy’s mind couldn’t process.  Between the injuries she had taken to the head and to the sheer incredulity of this, she just couldn’t believe that this was real.  A small voice in the back of her head whispered to her, saying that she had seen much weirder things, so how was this impossible?  But she could only focus on what was before her.  In fact, as the car began to rise in the air, it shifted so that the lights were hitting the ground instead of the man.  For the first time, she could see the man fully.

  
Standing before her, looking up at her as the car hovered above him, was a familiar man with shaggy blond hair, dark black eyes, a huge shit eating grin that looked more like fangs at the moment then actual teeth.  She recognized him; how could she not?  He was the same man that she had met the other day, the same man that she and Robbie had been trying to find info on all day.

  
Bill chuckled a bit as he rolled on the balls of his feet.

  
“Hello again Wendy.  My, you should really pay attention to the road, don’t cha think?  You never know with all the woods around here what will just come running right out!  You could seriously injure yourself- or even others!”  Bill stepped to the side and for the first time, Wendy could see Robbie lying motionless on the ground.

  
“R-Robbie?”  Wendy croaked; her throat just seemed to clench around her words.  Fear spiked in the teen.  Why wasn’t Robbie moving?  She called his name again, this time louder but she kept choking on her words.  Feeling her eyes burning, the red head couldn’t control her breathing as panic and pain filled her.  The world was spinning around her and she couldn’t focus on one spot, on Robbie’s broken body, anymore as the world was going dark.

  
The last thing she saw before she passed out was Bill’s grinning face.

 

** XxXxXxXx **

**  
**Stan grumbled as he walked away from The Bottomless Pit.  He vowed to himself that he was going to stay far away from it from now on.  That or one of the kids could go throw the customer complaints and opinions down the pit for him.  It was late; the sun had just set and already all light was disappearing and the stars were coming out.  As he walked towards the Shack, he could see the lights on inside and he could even hear the twins and Soos laughing loudly.

He smiled faintly as he heard them, glad that everything seemed fine when he was gone.  Spending hours falling down a endless pit, twice he might add, was not how Stan had wanted to spend the day, but he was glad that Soos had stayed with the kids while he was gone.  Not that he had expected anything less from his loyal worker, but still, it was nice to know that the kids weren’t alone.  He didn’t like the kids out wandering around the woods during the day, but going out at night is where he did his best to put his foot down.  Oh, he knew that didn’t stop them sometimes, as he knew they would sneak out or such, but you couldn’t blame an Uncle for trying.

  
Thinking of which, Stan pondered about his niece and nephew.  With Mabel, he could usually tell what she had been doing whenever she went out on her own.  She couldn’t really hide it very well when she had been hanging out with boys.  Supernatural boys in fact.  Mabel hadn’t been very helpful to hiding her cause when she had come right up to him and asked where the closest blood bank had been.  Stan had been very careful those next couple of days to watch Mabel and see if anything had changed, but when the girl had gone and played outside in the sun with no ill-effects, he had figured that she was fine.

  
Now, Dipper on the other hand, he had no idea what to do with that kid sometimes.  It was hard sometimes, pretending that he didn’t believe the kid about the strangeness around them, but it was for the best.  It bewildered him though, about just how the kid knew so much about Gravity Falls and its creatures when he had never been here before this summer.  Even stranger was what the kid had been doing recently.  Dipper always spent either time with his sister, or time in the woods, but he would only spend maybe an hour or two in the woods before coming back to the Shack.  But lately, Dipper has been slipping out of the house and disappearing for multiple hours on end.  He hadn’t questioned the boy much until last night because every time Dipper came back from where ever he was going off to, he always looked so happy.

Stan could see that Dipper was lonely sometimes.  It was plain as day from the look on Dipper’s face whenever Mabel had her friends over, although the boy tried to hide it.  He didn’t have any friends his age besides Mabel, and while Soos was a man-child, he still had work to do around the Shack so he couldn’t spend all his time hanging out with Dipper. It was almost the same with Wendy, though in Dipper’s case, his crush on the teen nearly got in the way of the kid ever making proper conversation with her.  Plus, while they did hang out, Wendy would always go for her own teenage friends first and foremost.  Stan could tell she cared for Dipper like a little brother, but it wasn’t always cool to bring your little siblings along with you everywhere.

  
Just as he was about to reach the porch, there was a sudden loud crash like sound that made Stan jerk back in shock.

  
“What in the world?”

  
He turned towards where the sound had come from where Stan knew was near the road that led to The Mystery Shack from town.  Stan stood still, barely even breathing as he listened for anymore sound.  There wasn’t another strange sound, but the hair on the back of Stan’s neck stood up and the old man felt a shiver go down his spine.  Just what in the world was going on?  Should he go check it out?  Stan took a few steps towards the dirt path that led to the main road was but stopped when the porch door suddenly swung open.

  
“Grunkle Stan, Grunkle Stan!  You’re out of the pit!  That’s great!”  Mabel was hugging her grand-uncle’s waist; her arms fitting perfectly around him.  “Come inside, Dipper, Soos, and I are playing Uno and I’m kicking butt!”

  
Stan put a hand on top of Mabel’s head and hesitated.  He looked towards where he had heard the sound and listened again.  He didn’t hear anything, but Stan knew that didn’t mean much ever since he got his hearing aide.  His hearing just wasn’t what it used to be.

  
“Grunkle Stan?  What’s wrong?”

  
The little girl looked up at him with such a worried expression that Stan immediately plastered a wide grin on his face that Mabel smiles back at.

  
“Nothing is wrong sweetie; just thinking about how I’m gonna crush all of you at Uno.”

  
“Oh, you are on old man!”  Mabel raced back inside and Stan followed at a much slower pace.

  
Once he was at the door, Stan turned and looked around once more before closing and locking the door.  Whatever was happening outside wasn’t his problem.  He had everything and everyone that mattered to him inside the shack, a place where he could watch and protect them, so he didn’t care about anything else.

  
Stanford Pines was a very good liar, especially when lying to himself.

  
 ** XxXxXxXx **

**  
**When Wendy opened her eyes, her first realization was that she was at a party.  Not just a party, but a cookout.  By the sight of seeing her father in front of the grill, she realized again that it was in fact one of her father’s famous cookouts that he has every summer.  There were Gravity Falls citizens everywhere, even some people she didn’t recognized, all around eating and drinking and just having a wonderful time in general.  Wendy began to move through the crowd of people, but not by her own will.  It was then that Wendy noticed two things: the first being that she had no control over her body.  That fact alone should have scared her, but instead it was almost like she was watching a movie from inside her body.  The second thing she noticed was the fact that everyone around her was so tall.  Wendy knew that she was a tall girl, but all these people put her height to shame.  They had to be giants!

Her body moved towards her father, who she could now see talking to someone.  Wendy couldn’t see who though, as her father’s large build was blocking her sight.

  
“Daddy!”  Her lips moved and a voice called out, but it was much too young sounding to be hers, Wendy thought to herself.  Her body moved quicker, and her father turned to look at her.  His face, which had been curled into an anger filled expression, evened out and the father smiled at Wendy.

  
“There is my princess!”  He suddenly picked her up and Wendy noticed that he was so much bigger then her too.  She wasn’t even half his height like she was normally was.  Wendy bet that she wasn’t even to her father’s waist.  As she was mentally wondering, what the hell was going on, her body turned and looked over at her father’s shoulder and Wendy’s heart stopped.

  
Standing there behind her father, looking angry, sad, and tired all in one was her mother.

  
Her mother, who had got up and left one day seven years ago and who they haven’t heard a word from since.  Her mother, who had had been traveling on her motorcycle and passed through Gravity Falls and meant to stay for only a night but ended up staying much longer than that.  Her mother, who married the manliest man around and actually got him to settle down, and have four kids.  Her mother, who got tired of staying in one place and being a house wife.  Her mother who decided enough was enough so packed very few things before getting on her old bike and leaving for good.

  
Her mother who had abandoned them.

  
Wendy wanted to say something.  She had dreamed of the day when she would track her mother down and confront her about what she did to her family.  She wanted to tell her all about her life, of what her mother had missed.  To tell her about the school functions to awards to her little brothers having no mother and the fact that they give their entire mother’s day stuff to Wendy instead of their actual mother.  Wendy wanted to tell her how while she had broken them for a while; they had managed to glue themselves back together with love and time.

  
But she couldn’t do that, because Wendy couldn’t move her lips or make any sound that she wanted to.

  
“Hi mommy!”  That small childish voice spoke again and Wendy thought that maybe it sounded just plain weird to hear.  Did she actually sound like that once upon a time?

  
The woman, her mother, looked up and gave Wendy a weak smile.

  
“Hey baby doll,” Wow, Wendy thought to herself.  She had almost forgotten how her mother had sounded.  “Are you having a fun time?”

  
“Yeah, but there are so many grownups.”  Wendy could feel her lips turning into a pout and in response to that, she could feel her father’s body shaking underneath her as he laughed.

  
“Sorry Princess. Maybe next time more kids will come.”

  
Her father set her down and patted her head gently.  Manly Dan was always so gentle with her when she was younger, Wendy remembered.  He told her once that coming from a family that was all boys, that he wasn’t sure how to treat her at first so that he was incredibly careful.  After she started showing interest in his job and working with him, he stopped treating her glass when she showed him that she was tough enough to handle it.  She was still his little girl though.

  
“Okay.  I’m gonna go play then.”  Even without an answer, she was already walking off towards the other end of the party.

  
“Alright, but stay away from the woods!”  Her father shouted to her as she began to run away.

  
“I know!”  She shouted back, not even turning around.

  
As her body led her around, Wendy couldn’t help but think that this was all very familiar.  She’s been to so many of her father’s summer cookouts, but she couldn’t remember this one.  That summer when she was eight years old, her mother had left the family before her father’s cookout so her father had cancelled it…right? Her memories from that time were blurry but the feeling that this was real took a hold of her.  So what did this mean then?  Was this a dream?  An memory?  How was she seeing this then?  No answers were in sight so as she was unable to do anything else, Wendy continued to let her body lead her.

Her body- her younger self?- led her to the edge of the party.  The crowd had thinned out and there was hardly anybody around.  Not too far from where she was wandering around, there were woods.  She kept glancing from the woods to the crowd of people.  No one seemed to be paying any attention to her and Wendy could feel her lips split into a grin.  Looking once over at the people again, she took off into the woods.  Even though she heard her other self’s giggles, Wendy felt that something was going to go horribly wrong.

  
Wendy, the young girl, was playing along the trees and humming to herself when suddenly someone began humming along.  The memory of a young girl stopped and looked around.  She didn’t see anyone so she began humming the same song again.  Once again, the other person began humming with her and young Wendy turned around quickly.  She saw something move behind a rather large tree; only catching a glimpse of black and yellow.

  
“Hey!”  Young Wendy shouted out, “I saw you!”

  
The being behind the tree didn’t move but Wendy could hear heavy breathing.  The young girl seemed so curious, but the Wendy who was watching from the inside wanted nothing but to go back to the party.  Her instincts were screaming at her to run and _why wasn’t her younger self listening to them?!?_

  
“It’s okay.”  The little girl cooed in an almost sickening sweet attempt to sound comforting.  “I won’t hurt you.”

  
The heavy breathing stopped for a moment and soft laughter came back instead.

  
“ **Oh, you stupid child.  You should be more worried about who is going to hurt you.** ”  A strange voice came from behind the tree. It sounded as if two voices were attempted to mesh together; a high pitched one and a grown up male’s one.

  
The being stepped from around the tree and both the young and older Wendy stared in shock and fear at it.

  
It was tall, so much taller than Wendy when she was a little girl.  It almost looked human, with its man torso and long legs wearing a torn white shirt and black pants but that’s just about when all likeness to humanity ended.  Its arms were long and black; almost boney with long spider like claws. The head of the beast had a human shaped with pale skin and shaggy blond hair.  But its head was split in the middle as the left side was an inky blackness that swirled around as if something under the skin was making waves.  While its eye on the right side of its face was back, the one on the left had a golden iris and all around that eye there was almost like a cracking with a golden color going down the black side of the face.  Its mouth was pulled into a ‘not-humanly-possible-in-the-slightest’ smile that showed off its sharp white teeth.

  
“ **Now be a dear and shut your mouth for me and stay still.** ” It spoke again.

  
Young Wendy did the reasonable thing and screamed like a banshee and ran for the edge of the woods; and the monster was right on her heels.

  
Suddenly things started to get blurry as branches and trees flew past her as the little girl ran.  The growls of the beast behind her made her heart pound with fear but hope started to fill her as she could see the clearing where she knew the party was being held.  She filled her lungs with air as she begun to scream.  But before she could do that, one of the monster’s claws shot out and grabbed her by the ankle pulled her back.  Young Wendy fell and landed on her stomach; all the air in her leaving in a choking gasp as she was pulled rapidly backwards by the creature.

  
“ **Hey now, don’t be a party pooper.  Don’t leave me just yet; we’re gonna have some fun!** ”

  
She could feel its hot breath on the back of her neck and she shook with fear.  Trying again to scream, young Wendy was cut off once again she was suddenly flipped and slammed onto her back and one of those large claws was around her throat and squeezing.  She was unable to make any noise beside small gasping noise.  Above her, the monster stared down grinning widely as Wendy’s vision began to fade.  She grabbed at the black claw holding her down, but it was to no use.  Her eyes fluttered and she watched as the creature licked its lips with a long pink tongue.

  
“ **That’s right; just go to sleep darling.  It’s all sweet dreams from here.** ”

  
Young Wendy’s eyes closed, and the Wendy inside, the older Wendy, was freaking out.  What was going to happen?  Was this even real or just some kind of strange dream?  Suddenly the claw around her neck was gone and she could breathe but young Wendy didn’t open her eyes just yet; too weak to do anything but listens to the voices in the darkness around her.

  
“Get back!  Get away from her, you demon!”  It was a man’s voice, but by the sounds all around Wendy, she could tell that there was more than just one man here.

  
“ **Idiots!  If you really think you can stop me, you’re so much more stupid then I thought.** ”  The monster’s voice was growling out and young Wendy could do nothing more than shake a little at its horrible voice.

  
“We may not be able to stop you fully yet, but we can stop you from taking this little girl!”

  
Wendy could hear voices around her speaking, no, chanting, as one.  She couldn’t understand it as it sounded like it was in a different language then English, but she knew for sure that the monster didn’t like it for sure as he roared and screamed something awful.  Its strange two toned voice became one, the higher pitched one, as it screamed in rage and pain.

 

  
She must have passed out momentarily because the next time she woke up; she was being carried in someone’s arms.

  
  
“Wha-?”  


  
The person carrying her, who she was unable to see as she barely had the energy to even open her eyes, paused for a second before patting her back.

  
  
“Shhh, go back to sleep.  You’re almost home sweetheart, I promise.”  The man spoke softly.

 

Young Wendy did as she was told and closed her eyes, which had only been partially open.  She didn’t fully fall asleep though.  Part of the conversations going on around her entered her dreams.  She could hear the man who was holding her talking softly to someone before passing her off to someone else before ruffling her hair.  She could hear her parents concerned and panicked voices as they begged to know what had happened.  She heard them get home and her father setting her on her bed. She heard her parents fighting.  Her mother wanted to move, to get away from Gravity Falls, but her father put his foot down.  There was screaming and crying, before a door slammed and the sound of an engine starting came from outside her house. 

  
Young Wendy was too young to know, but that was the sound of her family breaking apart.

 

Everything began to disappear around Wendy.  The feel of her bed on her back, the sounds in her house; everything once again faded to black.  She was in nothing and Wendy could do nothing…or could she?  Out of chance, she tried to move her hand.  Unlike before when she was in her younger body, she could actually feel her hands and fingers moved.  Feeling enthused by that small act of being able to actually control her body; Wendy did her best to open her eyes.

  
When she finally did, she realized that she definitely wasn’t in her house anymore, but instead, the woods.  She was leaning against something, a tree from the feel of it and she tried to look around, but doing so sent shocks of pain throughout her body.  Wendy gasped in pain, the world turning blurry as she fought back tears of pain.

  
“Wakey wakey, sleepyhead! Did you have a nice dream?” A familiar voice called out to her.

  
“W-who?”  Blinking back her tears, the teen age girl gritted her teeth and forced herself to look around, no matter how much it hurt. 

  
He stood in a bit away, and even in the moonlight, Wendy could see the smug grin on his, its, face.  The ‘man’ that had been introduced to her as Bill Cipher stood with his head held high and with a smug grin and a single eye that simply screamed ‘sadist’.  The pale man clicked his tongue with an over exaggerated frown.

  
“You were asleep for so long, I didn’t think you’d ever wake up!  But you did; what a shame.”

  
“What happened?”

  
Bill shot her a bored look.

  
“You humans are all the same!  You all ask the same boring questions about boring things. ‘What are you?’ ‘Who happened to me?’ ‘What is the meaning of life?’ but oh, my favorite has to be ‘Why are you doing this to me?’ Pffft!  Such stupid questions.”  Bill walked forward towards Wendy and the girl could see something on the ground behind him.

  
“Hey now!”  Wendy let out a sharp gasp of pain as Bill suddenly knocked his knuckles against her forehead harshly.  “It’s rude to not pay attention to your host y’know?”

  
He pulled away from her and Wendy blinked away the flashing lights behind her eyes.

  
“What do you want?”  She spoke, gritting her teeth and forced herself to stare at him right in the eye.

  
“Do you remember me Wendy?”  Bill dodged the questions.  The blond haired man squatted down and his right elbow resting on his knee and his chin resting in his palm, he stared at her with an expecting expression.  “Had I asked you the same question anytime before tonight, I’m sure that answer would have been a resounding ‘no’, am I right?” 

  
“What are you talking about?” Wendy spat, anger beginning to bubble.  She was hurt, confused, and scared and a combination of all of those things lead to a very pissed off teenager.

  
“Don’t you remember your dream at all?  Come on, I know you’re stupid, but you can’t possibly be that dumb can you?  Put it together!”

  
“Dream?  Wha- how in the world can you possibly know that?”

  
Bill rolled his eye as he suddenly stood, stretched, and then moved towards where he had been standing when Wendy had woken up.  Near him, she thought that she saw the lump on the ground move for a moment, but it was too quick and too miniscule to be absolutely sure.  Bill paid no attention to the lump on the ground, and instead grabbed something that Wendy hadn’t even noticed: something sticking out of the ground.  Bill pulled it out, but quickly hit it behind his back so she couldn’t see.  With as long and lanky as the man was, it was impossible to tell what it was and that made Wendy incredibly nervous.

  
“So, you and Bleeding Heart didn’t get very far on finding out anything about me when you went to the library today, huh?  But you did come across a whole conspiracy, so I guess you kids are either not as dumb as I thought or just really lucky.  Actually, when you look at the situation, I guess you’re just unlucky!”  Bill’s grin became more of a bearing of teeth then a actual smile.  “Now tell me Wendy; what did you learn about Gravity Falls.”

  
“What does that have to do with-”

  
Bill apparently didn’t like where that answer was going so he pulled the object he was holding out from behind his back, revealing it to be a shovel, before bringing it flat side down in a surprising show of speed and power right onto Wendy’s left kneecap, shattering the bone underneath.

  
Wendy howled in shock and pain.

  
She fell onto her right side, all the pain from her kneecap overrode any other pain in her body, and continued to scream.

  
“What the _FUCK!?!_ ”

  
“Hey now, don’t make me wash your mouth out with soap!  Besides, if you had answered properly, I wouldn’t have to punish you for your incompetence in answering a single question.”  Bill nudged Wendy’s middle with his foot and the girl curled into a ball to protect herself instinctively.  Bill tsked.

  
“I’m going to ask you that same question again and this time, I want you to answer correctly, understood?”

  
Wendy didn’t respond, too focused on trying to breathe properly as she let out shuttering breaths once she had finally stopped screaming.  Her screams, which had turned to whimpers, were turning back into gasping screams as Bill nudged her middle even harder than before.  Getting a shaky nod from the girl, Bill continued on like none of this had just happened.

  
“What did you learn about Gravity Falls?”

  
Bill didn’t touch her or even say anything as the teenage girl tried to collect herself.  Wendy found that focusing all her attention on the question and wonder about it could be a good distraction for the pain.  Good, but not great, as she burrowed her teeth into her lip in fear and pain.

  
“W-we learned t-that there isn’t much about G-Gravity Falls’ past as we though there was in the library.”

  
“And?”  Bill’s face didn’t seem satisfied and the way his grip tightened on the shovel made a spike of fear go through Wendy.

  
“Um, um, w-we learned that since the beginning of Gravity Falls, children have died relatively young and always had a question mark next to their death.  Oh!  They didn’t have an actual day of death, but just that year.  We also learned that you’re not in the register of people who lived in Gravity Falls.”

  
Bill raised an eyebrow at Wendy’s accusing look and made a motion for her to continue.

  
“And we found a secret room full of files and stuff.”

  
The blond haired man sighed as he ran a hand through his hair, his other hand twirling the shovel expertly and quickly.

  
“Do you know how many people in this town would have killed others to find that treasure trove of information?  Everything in there was all the info on Gravity Falls and its entire unadulterated history and you go for only file on the desk table?” Bill gave her a truly exasperated look which melted away quickly into a thoughtful one.  “Though I do have to admit that the fact that you actually got the one secret that is at the center of all Gravity Falls was impressive.  But, oh, you don’t even know what those names mean, do you?”

  
Wendy’s mind was racing.  She remembered seeing all the other files cases, but she hadn’t even attempted to force them open after finding them locked as she was sure she could always come back to look them over after finding a way to open them.  But Bill was saying that she had actually found something really important? She had been going to confront Stan on it, ask him to explain what all this meant and tell him who Bill was and try and see where all this fit together.

  
“Ah, the Royal Order of the Holy Mackerel and Search for the Blind Eye; such memories.  But before we go into that, you need to remember.  Do you remember me yet Wendy?  Think about that dream you just had?”

  
She was going to ask him again, how he knew that she had a dream, but the way he was holding the shovel silenced any words before they could leave her lips.  She closed her eyes and recalled the dream that was still very fresh in her mind.  As soon as she did, she was barraged with images that that monster that had attacked her.  Gasping with shock, Wendy opened her eyes, only to see Bill standing in the exact way the monster had been behind her eyes.

  
“You!” Wendy stared at him with wide eyes and even more growing horror.

  
“Me~!” Bill sang.

  
“But, how?”

  
“Ah, that is the real ticker, now isn’t it?  Well, you saw how I looked in your dream, or I should I say memory?  I say that because that’s what it really is.”

  
“I don’t remember that!”  Wendy blurted out and promptly winced, sure that she had gotten Bill’s ire.  Instead, the man just snickered.

  
“Yes, that’s the thing with you humans, if something doesn’t make sense you have to make up a reason for it.  Or even, if something terrible should happen, you either push the entire thing away and put up walls to forget all about it, or you hold onto it forever until that incident becomes a defining trait of your personality.  Isn’t it amazing what your stupid little brains will do just to protect your fragile sanity?”

  
“So, that ‘dream’ wasn’t really a dream, but a memory?  Just what are you?”

  
Bill’s smirk twisted into horrible looking sneer.

  
“Well, I guess I can tell you.  You did find out about those two groups and besides, it’s not like you’ll ever be able to tell anyone after, haha!”

  
Wendy felt numb at hearing that.

  
“Well, it all started when Trembley founded Gravity Falls-”

  
“Who?”  Wendy blurted out again, confusion obvious in her voice.

  
Bill slammed the back of the shovel down on Wendy’s other kneecap, shattering that one as well. Bill stood calmly waiting for her to stop screaming.  When her screams were brought down to sobbing whimpers, he continued on like there had been no interruption.

  
“When Quentin Trembley, the eight and a half president, was kicked out of office, he traveled across the United States.  Many thought he was simply wandering, but Trembley was looking for something.  He was looking for the place where he would found a town that had been in his dreams.  The crazy guy had dreams about this place for a long, long while.  For like, years.  That guy was so stubborn.  I mean, you try to plant an idea in someone’s head during their sleep and what do they do?  They ignore it, or worse, forget it!  So of course I had to keeping nudging until that became pushing until that turned into forcing ideas into his mind until it cracked under the pressure.  It’s not my fault the guy had a nervous breakdown and went a little crazy after he was elected.”  Bill scoffed before noticing Wendy’s look of utter incomprehension.

  
“Ah, well.  Anyway, he founded this town but whatever smarts left in his brain, he realized that the woods around the town were very, very dangerous and the town had no chance of surviving the monsters there.  So I offered to make a deal with him that night when he went to bed and he agreed. I showed him how to pull me into this world and for a while, I really did live in Gravity Falls.  All the citizens were terrified of me and my great power so they treated me with respect that I deserve.  Using alchemy and some of my demon magic, I created wards around the town of Gravity Falls so that no monster or creature could get into the town; well, except me of course!”

  
Seeing the girl’s wide eyed look, but her refusal to say anything, Bill spoke up.

  
“What, surprised?  You didn’t actually think I was a human did you?  Oh, wow!  You actually did!  That’s great!  That means this flesh bag of a disguise is working.”

  
The demon showed off his sharp teeth before continuing.

  
“You see, I made a deal with Trembley before he went and coated himself in peanut brittle.  The deal wasn’t just between him and I, but as he was founder of Gravity Falls, I made it with the _entire_ town.  I would put wards around the town and he would give me what I wanted in return for that protection.  Now, can you guess what my part of the deal was?”

  
He didn’t even have to ask really; Bill could already see her face becoming much paler then normal as she realized the implications.

  
“I-In those record books, there were kids with question marks on their death years, but…you?”

  
“Me.”  He nodded, feeling pleased with the amount of fear he saw in her eyes.

  
“Why?”

  
“Well, demons need regular intakes of energy.  The good thing is that we don’t need to feed very often…Of course; Trembley didn’t know that so I got a bit fat and happy for years in the beginning!  Another wonderful thing about demons is that all that energy that we need to exist can be stored for later, so all those kids I used up like batteries I had a full charge for a long, long time.”

Bill, who had been all smiling and laughing like he was telling a joke and not talking about killing children, suddenly scowled.

  
“It’s a good thing too, because after a while, those damn people started getting upset with _me_ about all the children.  Suddenly it goes from ‘Oh thank you Mr. Cipher, you are wonderful and powerful Mr. Cipher!’ to ‘You’re taking too many of our children!  We won’t have any children left to be the next generation! You’re a monster!’  Like, duh?  Of course I’m a monster and monsters like me don’t deal with the fact that those idiots just didn’t have enough kids to pay tribute to me. Such rudeness.”

  
“Y-you ate them?”

  
“Tch.  Eating children raw is not my taste.  I prefer my steak cooked medium-well thank you!  And honestly, I don’t even eat their bodies.  It’s their life energy and souls that I devour.  Children…Children are the best for harvesting those things.  When they are young, children have a natural fear of the unknown, the instinct for the supernatural and just a quality of untouched pureness.  Around this period in their life, the kids are the natural selection; plus, their souls taste just awesome!  Absolutely nothing compares to fresh child’s soul and life energy.”

  
“You’re insane.”

  
“Yep, what of it?”

  
“So, that’s what you want with Dipper?  To eat his soul?”

  
“And life energy; you can’t forget that!  But enough about Dipper at the moment; I’m not done telling my story just yet.”  Bill cleared his throat dramatically before talking again.

  
“Well, those jerks were smarter than I thought they were and they had been secretly working on the runes for the wards.  They then found a way to change the wards so I was pushed out of the town and was forbidden from being in town!  ME! I helped them make the town, or at least, protect it!  Those bastards!  The only good side of them changing the wards to keep me out was that the wards had holes in it that some monsters and other beasties could get through and into town.  They suffered because of it, but something came worse out of it: The Royal Order of the Holy Mackerel.”

  
The demon in disguise stuck his tongue out.

  
“They are a secret society of people who decided that I was nothing but a danger to their little town and their goal was to keep Gravity Falls safe, even from itself. They even had a secret catchphrase: ‘We Are Many’.  Pffft, how lame!  They couldn’t even think of something wittier.

  
“Well, they managed to kick me out, something I’m still pretty ticked about, but I managed to find ways to spy on them in return.  Who knew it’d be as easy as just looking through the eyes of others; even the eyes of things that aren’t even living!  So, I get to see everything that I want, as long as I have an eye in the room.  Lucky for me, there are eyes everywhere!”

  
Pausing for a moment, Bill crouched down again.  Looking at Wendy, and grinned.  Wendy just took a shaking breath and her eyes darted to the sides all around her.  She knew that it would be impossible run with her kneecaps shattered like they are, but there had to be something she could do.  She had to warn Stan and Dipper.  Bill seemed mightily distracted when he was talking, and god, did he like the sound of his own voice apparently.  So the best thing to do would to find something to keep him talking.

  
“What-what about that other name?  Search for the Blind Eye; what about that?”  Wendy moved her hands slowly behind her back in attempt to find a rock or something that she could use to do some damage.

  
Bill grinned widely and if Wendy didn’t know that this being under fake human skin was really a monster, she would have thought he looked happy.

  
“Oh yes!”  Bill was…gushing.  He really did seem happy and that alone scared Wendy anymore.

  
“Remember when I told you that people feared and respected me because of my huge and amazing powers?  Well, those people that worshipped me decided that they didn’t like the fact that other guys had forced me away.  You see, the Blind Eye group thought that getting rid of me was a horrible mistake and so they started making their own moves against the fish group.”

  
Wendy could feel something behind her so she reached her arm back slowly.

  
“How?”  She bit back a groan as entire body screamed in protest of her moving.

  
“Oh, you know: my group decided that they would find ways to keep me satisfied by picking children who wouldn’t be missed or who would easily trust them.  Sometimes those things didn’t even rule into it and they picked whatever kid was nearest.  I didn’t complain, not really, but things for them have gotten very difficult lately.  That damn fish group is getting smarter and finding ways to flush out the Blind Eye so most of the members have gone into hiding.  But, before they did, one of them found a loophole and a way for me, demonic body and all to get into Gravity Falls. Did you know that when people summon a demon, that any and all runes are null and void in comparison to that summoning power?  So, if someone were to summon me, I could get in easy and run around free causing terror like you’ve never known.  It’ll be fun, but until then, I’m stuck using this flesh bag body.

  
“Of course, I can only use this dumb body for so long before it starts breaking down and of course it’s a bitch even making one of these!   Plus, I’ve got to do human things like eat actual food and sleep; though nowhere as much as a regular human but it’s still annoying.”  Bill bitched, running a hand down his face in aggravation.  “But it has its pros too.  I managed to walk right through the wards in this body without any trouble!”

  
Wendy tightened her hand around the good sized jagged rock she had found and knew that this was a onetime shot.  Faking a groan, Wendy began to sway her body and fall to the side.

  
“Hey now, don’t die just yet!  I haven’t finished having fun with you.”  Bill leaned forward in his crouching position and placed a hand on her left shoulder to steady her.

  
That’s when the teenager made her moved.  Grasping onto Bill’s upper arm suddenly and with surprising strength, Wendy reached back with her right arm and smashed the rock against Bill’s left temple.  Bill let out a surprised and pained shriek as the rock’s jagged edge cut into his skin and then cut over the bandage over his left eye, ripping it off in the process.  Bill’s hand immediately went to his eye and temple as he fell to his knees.  Wendy saw her chance and using the tree, she pulled herself and she couldn’t even stand straight up and instead had to lean on the tree for support.

Adrenaline pumping through her body numbed out the pain, that or she was going into shock, Wendy hobbled from tree to tree, doing her best to get away from Bill.  It was slow going but she didn’t stop; even when her lungs felt like they were going to explode on her.  She had to get away, she had to warn Stan.  She had to warn Dipper.

The thought of the boy who had changed her summer for the better, who had become her friend, the boy that had that crush on her, that Dipper was in trouble, ignited Wendy and pushed her forward.

  
“There you are.”

  
Wendy didn’t even have a chance to react as she was suddenly pulled and then slammed into tree.  She let out a scream of pain which was cut off as Bill’s hand wrapped around her throat.

  
“Ha ha ha!  Did you actually think you could run away?  You stupid, _stupid_ , girl.”  Bill slammed Wendy’s head back twice, causing flashes of light behind Wendy’s eyes.

  
Weakly opening her eyes, Wendy jerked back in surprise when she saw Bill’s face.

  
He looked angry, no, pissed.  His teeth were barred in a snarl and blood from the cut on his temple had matted the hair that usually hid his left eye to the side of his face, giving plain view of his now unbandaged eye.  Bill’s iris was a bright golden color and where white should have been, was pure black.  Small golden lines were around the eye and giving it the appearance that it was cracking. In the night, they seemed to be glowing. 

Bill let her go suddenly and Wendy fell to the ground coughing and taking in as much air as her lungs will allow.  She didn’t have much time to rest though, as the demon grabbed her by the hair and began to drag her.  The teen screamed in pain that the ripping sensation in her head and instinctively she tried to dig her fingers into the ground to stop Bill, but it only gave her broken nails and the beginnings of bloody hands.

  
“HELP! Someone, anyone!”  Wendy let out a shriek of pain when Bill doubled his efforts in pulling and jerking her head back with a painful twist.

  
Suddenly the demon stopped and Wendy tried to look around and see where they were.  She couldn’t tell but it didn’t matter as just the next moment, Bill suddenly threw her forward.  Wendy expected to hit the ground right away, but the feeling of falling made the girl yell and wave her arms around for something to catch herself on.

  
Landing with a hard thud, Wendy blinked open her eyes to see Bill staring down at her from high above.  Looking around her, she was surrounded by walls of dirt. [ She was in a hole; no, she was in a grave](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a6t9BFOF5EY).

  
“Are you comfy in there? No?  Too bad.  You might as well get used to it because you’re going to be staying here until your bones turn to dust.”  Bill swung his shovel onto his shoulder and gave Wendy a fierce grin.  “I’ll be right back!”  Turning and walking out of Wendy’s site.

  
The teenager buckled under her unsteady legs and didn’t even feel the pain when she landed on her kneecaps.  Wendy didn’t want to give up, she didn’t want to lay down and die like this.  She didn’t want to die at all.  She started to shake, both from anger and a deep sorrow.  What would her father think?  Her brothers?  Robbie?  Wendy’s head shot up as she suddenly realized that she had forgotten to ask about her boyfriend. 

  
“Please let him be alright.”  She prayed, but deep down in her gut, Wendy knew that he was probably anything but.  A traitorous tear fell from her eye and the red head didn’t even have the strength to wipe it away.

  
The sound of footsteps returning brought Wendy’s attention back up to the opening of the hole, her would be grave, and using all her strength she had left, the girl glared at the demon who grinned at her.  He was holding something with his left hand, but Wendy couldn’t tell what and she didn’t pay attention to it at the moment.

  
“People are going to notice.”  She started off, “They’re gonna notice that I’m gone and my dad is going to look for me and he won’t give up until I’m found.  They’ll get suspicious of you; some creep who has never been around before.”

  
Bill snorted.

  
“No they won’t, because you are going to leave them a letter.  You and Robbie decided that you were completely in love and ran away together like the lovebirds you are.  No one will every suspect foul play because they’ll all say ‘she’s just like her mother’ after you’re gone.”

  
Any fight left in Wendy was blown out of her as one of her deepest fears was thrown in her face.

  
“How..?”

  
“Hello, demon!  If I could control your dreams, what makes you think that I can’t see your thoughts and deepest fears?  Oh poor little girl; so scared of commitment and becoming like your mother, of you eventually leaving your loved ones, that you break it off with any guy who you deem is ‘too serious about you’.  But congrats, your family will be left behind as you supposedly run away with your boyfriend.  Oh, speaking of which, here.”

Bill threw whatever he had been holding in his left hand into the open grave.  It landed with a loud ‘flop’ and it took Wendy only a half second to recognize it.

  
“Robbie!”

  
She reached for him and when she pulled her hand back, she got nothing but a blood stained hand.  Robbie’s face was nearly shredded from where he had gone sailing through the windshield and it was easy to tell he had lost so much blood. He didn’t respond to her calls or when she shook him and even when Wendy got close to him, she could barely hear his rattled breathing.  Wendy might be young, but she knew with all of his injuries and the situation at hand what was going to happen.

  
Robbie was going to die.  She was going to die.  They were going to be buried in a grave together.

  
Wendy’s shoulders shook as she silently cried and held her boyfriend’s body against her.  Everything else around her disappeared as she slowly laid down next to him and held his hand.  She didn’t hear Bill’s grunting or the sound of dirt being shoveled.  She didn’t even feel the dirt starting to cover her.  She was breaking down and at the moment, nothing mattered.  Wendy was hurt, tired, and her body couldn’t take the stress anymore.  Holding Robbie’s hand, she gave it a weak squeeze.  To her surprise, there was an even weaker squeeze back.  Looking at dark haired boy’s face, she could see a faint light in his eyes and watched as he weakly mouthed her name before the light faded completely.

  
Wendy had no more will to fight after that.  She took a deep breath, the last she’d ever take, and closed her eyes.

 

  
Bill patted the fresh dirt with the back of his shovel.  Nodding in satisfaction as he now knew a couple of problems were now gone.  Running a hand through his hair, Bill hissed as he accidently ran a hand over his damaged temple.  Glaring at the fresh grave, feeling his anger anew, the demon was glad she was dead.  Though, now that it was done, he wished he had made her suffer a bit more.  He shrugged before he surveyed the land around there and cleaning up any mess he had made.  Sure he was deep enough in the woods that he didn’t ever think anyone or anything would find them, plus the fact he had buried them extra deep for caution, it didn’t hurt to be a little careful.

  
The demon in a flesh suit walked along in the forest towards the house he had claimed whistling a jaunty tune.  What a good night for a stroll.

  
 ** XxXxXxXx **

**  
**That night, an old man would wake up in the middle of the night from an old, recurring nightmare about never being able to catch up to a boy that looked just like him.  He would get up, check up on his niece and nephew and see that they were alright before going to back to bed.  He wouldn’t be able to sleep for the rest of the night as the feeling that something was wrong would never fully leave him.

  
The next morning, two parents would find letters from their children telling them that they were in love and decided to elope and that they didn’t know when they would ever come back, if ever.  A manly father would shake and punch things, but feel utterly helpless on the inside.  Wendy was always so much like her mother, even in the bad.  Now it had come full circle.  Farther away in town, a single mother got back from her night job and searched desperately for her only son in his room.  Realizing that he really was gone, she broke down and cried before calling the local police.

In the end, the two of them would be labeled runaways and they were thought to be long gone from Gravity Falls by now, so not as much effort was put into looking for them.  Friends and family cried and felt betrayed, but no one suspected anything more then what it seemed.

  
And no one would until it was too late.

  
 ** TBC **

  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, I'm gonna say a lot this time (like everytime, lol) but let me get somethings straight out:
> 
> If you have questions, go to my tumblr, www.inumaru12.tumblr.com, and ask me there. I'd perfer to answer questions there so everyone can see them and I can tag it properly.
> 
> Also in tumblr, I tag things related to this fanfic as "Fanfic: Wonderland", "BillDip", "Cipherpines" and "Inumaru12 Writes" so you can easily find stuff i've tagged through that.
> 
> Also, if you wanna be real nice and draw art for this fic, please tag it with "Inumaru12" so I get to see it!! (hinthint! lol)
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
> **Questions/Answers**
> 
>  
> 
> First off, do not read this if you haven't read the chapter yet (what are you even doing down here if you haven't read all that mass of words up above anyway???)
> 
>  
> 
> **This is a AU fic**
> 
>  
> 
> I can not stress this enough. I made a lot of this fic's plot/storyline a long, long time ago. Long before we even had whispers of Season 2 so a lot is different from that and I made head canons and stuff that were relevent to the plot before I realized some of them were incredibly wrong.
> 
> Take Wendy's mom for example. Alex Hirsch said in his reddit AMA that Wendy's mom had sadly passed away. By the time I had read that (i was super late in reading his AMA), i already had the part with Wendy's mom planned out. It was important at the time because when Wendy's mom leaves them, due to her being unable to deal with the strangeness of Gravity Falls and the fear that something will happen to her children, she ends up leaving in that moment of weakness, it was partly to explain why Wendy was always dating so many guys (bc she had the fear if she got too deep into a relationship, that she'd end up leaving and hurting everyone.)
> 
> It was was also to show that Wendy became the glue to holding her family together and now with her gone, her family is going to suffer because of it.
> 
>  
> 
> As of now, Wendy and Robbie are out of the picture. 
> 
>  
> 
> **About Bill**
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>  
> 
> Bill is not a reliable narrator. He lies, he lies a lot. But a lot of what he was telling Wendy was the truth, although he didn't tell her everything and most was from his side of things. While most of his reasoning was sound on, there are more reasons why he went for Dipper then just because he's a kid and seemed easy to grab up. If that was the case, he would have already killed Dipper in the forest during chapter four. So the mystery isn't solved completely yet, but a good part is showing to you guys.
> 
> I've left some clues which are probably obvious that you might be able to figure out. I encourage you all to make guesses. I won't tell you if you're right or not, but go ahead and make them!
> 
>  
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> **Grunkle Stan**
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>  
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> He knows much more than he seems. 
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>  
> 
> Okay, that's it for now. Please continue to send me (NICE!!!) encouragments and your thoughts at my inbox here: www.inumaru12.tumblr.com/ask/ 
> 
> I'm never giving up on this fic guys, I swear. It just takes me a bit to write between work and being a useless blob. Please forgive me.
> 
> Also, please don't kill me/send me hate for what happened this chapter, lol.
> 
> Until next time!!!


	7. The Spring

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bill takes Dipper to a secluded spot to swim, the Pines family learns some startling news that hits close to home, and Dipper realizes something very important.

It was a blazing inferno that Dipper awoke to the next day.  His sheets were kicked off and they were damp from his sweat.  Groaning as he sat up on his bed and put his feet on the wooden floor; only to pull them back, hissing.  Even the ground was hot!  He looked across the room and found for his shoes and instead watched his sister sleep through the heat.  Shaking his head in disbelief, Dipper snatched up his sneakers from the ground and slipping them on.  Standing gingerly, the preteen boy pulled at his shirt and stuck his tongue out in disgust as the article of clothing stuck to him stubbornly.

Too hot and grossed out about his soaked clothes to care about changing in the same room as his sister was currently in, Dipper changed quickly.  Putting on a plain white shirt and red shorts, which was much more difficult then it seemed as he already had his shoes on, Dipper threw his sweat soaked clothes on the floor with a careless shrug.  Before leaving the attic though, the young boy made sure to hide his journal where Mabel wouldn’t find it this time (in the closet, under piles of his dirty clothes; Mabel would never find it now!).

Walking out of the attic and down the stairs, Dipper could hear the pipes rattling loudly and dangerously like they always did whenever someone took a shower.  Figuring Stan would be a while, Dipper skipped down the stairs and headed into the kitchen.  Making a beeline right towards the refrigerator, Dipper pulled out a bottle of somewhat cold water (Soos had to fix the fridge again soon, though they were all glad they had at least some power to it) and took a long swig of it.  The semi-coldness was a great relief on Dipper’s throat.  So much so, that he sucked down all the water in the bottle.  The feeling of the water going down into his stomach gave the boy a chill, but it was nice compared to the heat.  Setting the empty bottle on the counter, Dipper grabbed an apple, only to find that it didn’t look very good anymore.  Scrunching his nose up in disgust, Dipper threw the bad apple in the trash.  Sighing irritably, Dipper moved out of the kitchen and into the living room where he flopped down on Stan’s chair.

He didn’t even bother reaching for the remote to turn on the TV as it was too hot and the heat made Dipper feel incredibly drowsy.  From where he was half sitting, half laying against the chair’s arm, he could hear the same loud rattling from the pipes.  Dipper wondered just how long Stan was gonna take a shower for and if he was using up all the cold water.  Groaning at the thought of cold water, Dipper suddenly sat up as he remembered something.

  
“Bill!”  He called out to himself as a grin stretched across his face.

  
That’s right; the day before yesterday when Bill had been dropping him off, Bill had said that they could go swimming!  Suddenly feeling energized, Dipper jumped out of his Grunkle Stan’s seat and started to head towards the door when he stopped.  Grunkle Stan had gotten very stern with him the other day when he had showed up late when Bill had dropped him off.  Deciding to leave a note this time and hope that would suffice, Dipper headed back into the kitchen and grabbed the first scrap of paper he could find and jotted down that he was going out and that he’d be back later.  Leaving it on the fridge under a magnet of a sunflower, something Dipper is sure Mabel picked out because really, he can’t imagine Stan having such a thing of his own free will, the young boy hightailed it out of the house and out the front door.

Dipper nearly headed right back into the house the second he took a step out.

  
It was positively boiling outside.  Sure, the inside of the shack wasn’t much better seeing as Grunkle Stan either didn’t want to pay for air conditioning or that it had broken again and was added to the long list of what Soos needed to fix.  But outside it felt hot enough that Dipper thought that things, and maybe even himself, would burst into flames soon.

  
The young boy’s eyes widened in shock and horror as a squirrel, which was bounding through the field by the shack in a carefree joy, known only to innocent animals, suddenly spontaneously combusted right in front of his eyes.

  
Hand still on the door knob of the shack, Dipper whimpered slightly and wondered if it was too late to go back into the slightly less hot shack and stay inside.  But just as he was tempted, thoughts of Bill and his promise of them going swimming pushed him forward.  Stepping away from the door and walking across the field in front of the shack, he made way towards the main road.

Halfway down the road, Dipper moved out the middle of the dirt road and towards the side as a truck made its way towards him.  The twelve year old paused as he watched the truck come to a stop; the breaks squeaking loudly as it did so.  The truck’s owner, Soos, rolled down the window and waved at Dipper.

  
“Hey Dipper!  What’cha up to so early?”

  
“Hi Soos; I’m going to town to meet a friend of mine.”  Dipper smiled and felt a rush of heat to his cheeks even just saying that.  The excitement of saying he had a friend was just exhilarating.

  
“Dude, that’s great!  You should bring them around the shack sometime; I’d love to meet a friend of my bro!”  Soos grinned widely at Dipper, feeling happy for his young friend.

  
“Yeah, I’ll try to get him to come by sometime but I dunno…He doesn’t seem that interested in coming to the Mystery Shack for some reason.”

  
Soos frowned.  “Really?  Huh.  Well, there are some townies that don’t care for Mr. Pines’ Mystery Shack, but what do they know?  Hey, you want a ride?”

  
Dipper was tempted to accept Soos’ offer but he could tell the older male was already sweating profusely and it made Dipper wonder if Soos had ever managed to fix the air conditioner in his car.  Soos was a great guy and all, but he had massive B.O. when he started to sweat and Dipper didn’t want to be stuck in a small space with that.

But, if Dipper was completely honest with himself; something inside of him didn’t want to introduce Bill to anyone.  He didn’t mind telling Mabel or Soos about his new friend, but them actually meeting Bill?  The young boy wasn’t used to feeling possessive over something as growing up he had learned early in his life to share with his twin, but there was no doubting the feelings he had right now that were flooding through his body.

  
He didn’t want to share Bill with anyone because if he did, what if Bill liked his family better than him?  All the memories Dipper had of the past times he had spent with Bill, all the fun they had and the friendship that had only begun to grow between them would just wither and die because Bill would realize there are a lot cooler people then him.  Dipper knew he was probably exaggerating in his mind, but he wanted a friend all to himself.  Mabel had her friends, so why couldn’t he have his?

  
“Dude?”

  
Dipper blinked and looked at Soos who was staring at him with an easy grin.

  
“Dude, you like, totally zoned out.”

  
“Sorry Soos.” Dipper rubbed the back of his neck, wiping the sweat that was starting run down it.

  
The handyman just shrugged.  “It’s okay; I zone out sometimes and daydream.  I call it Soos Time!  It’s where I imagine myself fighting werewolves, vampires, and that weird guy who stocks the milk at the grocery store.”

  
Dipper grins and shakes his head fondly.

  
“Uh, I’m gonna pass on the ride Soos.  Besides, I know Grunkle Stan is gonna ask you to fix the fridge as soon as possible…that and most likely the air conditioning too.  So, I’ll let you get to it.”

  
“Well, alright.  See you Dipper!”  The grown man held his fist outside of the window and towards Dipper.  The boy, in return, closed his own hand into a fist and pounded it against Soos’.  Watching Soos drive to the shack momentarily, Dipper turned after and made his way back to town, groaning in the heat as he felt sweat continue to pour down his face, neck, and back.  By the time he reached the monument in the town square where he always met Bill, Dipper was sure he was going to melt into a puddle.

Dipper looked around with squinting eyes, trying his best to keep that horrible sun out of his eyes as he combed the area, looking for Bill.  When he finally found him, Bill was sitting on the steps of the monument as if the heat and sun didn’t even bother him the slightest.  As Dipper got closer to him, he could see that the older man didn’t even look like he was sweating at all.

  
“How are you not dying in this heat?  Especially with the black you have wearing?”  Dipper asked.

  
“Well hello to you too P.T.”  Bill greeted Dipper with a grin and half lidded eyes.

  
“Hi Bill.”  The brown haired boy plopped down on the step next to Bill, groaning and nearly falling over if not for Bill’s hand steadying him.  “Thanks…But really, how are you so unaffected by all of this heat?”  Dipper took his hat off and fanned himself with it.

  
The blond haired man grinned widely at him and shrugged. 

  
“What can I say?  I guess the heat is just my element.” Bill gives Dipper one of his strange grins, like he’s talking about something in particular, but the preteen has no idea what it could possibly be.  “So, anyway, what did you do yesterday?  Anything fun?”

  
“Well, me, my sister, Soos, and my Grunkle Stan fell down into the bottomless pit and told stories to pass the time.”  Dipper shrugged.  “Strangely enough the bottomless pit wasn’t actually bottomless, but instead it just spat us back out at top.  So I guess it’s some kind of endless loop?”

  
“That’s weird.  Shouldn’t your Grunkle Stan change it to the looping pit then?”

  
Dipper shrugged again, not seeming too concerned about it.

  
“Dunno.  So, what about you?  What did you do yesterday?” The young boy wiped the sweat off his brow with his arm.

  
“Hmm, I took care of some things.”  Bill smirked and Dipper raised an eyebrow.

  
“Wow, that didn’t sound ominous or anything.”

  
The blond haired man waved a hand and rolled his one visible eye.

  
“Geez, why do you think so bad of me P.T.?  It was just some things I had been putting off for a while. Nothing ominous as you said.”

  
Now Dipper was the one to roll his eyes. 

  
“You’re so dramatic Bill.”

  
Bill gave a wide grin and stretched out, putting an arm around Dipper and pulling him close.

  
“What can I say?  Life is a show, and the audience just loves me.”

  
Dipper pushed Bill away as quickly as he could.

  
“Don’t touch me, you’re way to hot!  How is it that you’re like a radiator? Especially in this weather?!?”  If possible, Dipper thought he was sweating even more because the few seconds of Bill’s touch.

  
“Sheesh.  If you’re really so hot, I guess we should stop fooling around and go swimming, huh?”

  
Dipper immediately stood up, much to Bill’s amusement.

  
“Yes!” He shouted, “Please Bill.”

  
Bill grinned widely at Dipper’s pleading expression before standing up as well and taking his car keys out of his pocket.

  
“Well then, let’s go.”

  
Bill led the way towards where his beat up blue truck was parked.  The two got in and after catching Dipper’s attention, Bill made a show of putting on his seatbelt which made the young boy grin.  As Bill started the car, Dipper immediately reached for turning the air conditioning on, but choked as nothing but heat came out.

  
“Whoops, sorry P.T.  I probably should have told you that since this truck is so old, it takes a long while for the air conditioning to turn on.”

  
Dipper groaned as he rolled down the window on his door and tried to take in any breeze that he could as the car moved down the street. Resting his chin on his arm and watching as the small town went idly by, Dipper’s head jerked up when he saw something.

  
“Bill, you missed the turn for the pool!” Dipper pointed out the open window and towards where the sign for “Gravity Falls Community Pool” they had just past.

  
“Nah, we’re not gonna go there.  It’s going to be way too crowded.  Plus, with all those people in the water, who knows if they follow the ‘no peeing in the pool’ rule or not.”  Both Dipper and Bill scrunch up their face is disgust at the thought.  “I know a nice secluded place for us to swim.  Even better, it’s not far from my house!”

  
Dipper recognized the dirt path that Bill had drove him on just two days ago and knew that the path led towards Bill’s secluded house in the woods.  The slight shade from the trees on both sides of the path helped keep Dipper a little cooler. 

Bill drove past his house and down the bumpy path even further into the woods.  The path became so narrow that after a bit, Bill had to stop and park the car.

  
“Come on,” Bill spoke as he got out of the truck. “We’ll walk from here.  We’re not too far now.”

  
So Dipper shrugged and slid out of the car and taking care not to slam the door.  He followed after Bill and walked with him in a comfortable silence as he looked around at the woods around them.  They seemed to be making farther and farther steps into the woods, though Dipper knew that this was nothing compared to the real deep of the woods.  Further into the heart of the woods was where all the most dangerous forest creatures lived, and Dipper really hoped they wouldn’t ever run into that gremloblin ever again.

As they got farther in, Dipper could start to hear and even smell water.

  
“We’re almost there?” The preteen boy half asked, half pleaded, much to Bill’s amusement.

  
“Yes, yes.  Well, we’re not almost there, but we’re actually here.”  Bill put a hand on Dipper’s head and moved his head to look forward to show him that they had arrived at their destination.

  
“Whoa!” Dipper could feel a grin growing across his face as he took in the sight before him.

  
It was a huge and beautiful spring.  The pool of water wasn’t very big, but it was big enough to fit two full grown people.  The mini waterfall caused by the rocks up the stream were beautiful and handy as they kept the water from being too quick.  On the other side of the spring, a doe raised her head from drinking to stare at them.  Dipper watched with wide eyes and a grin as the elegant creature just stood there before quickly bounding away.

  
“Aww,” Dipper pouted a bit.  “I would have liked to see her stay.”

  
Bill shrugged when Dipper turned to look at him.

  
“Well, if she stayed I’m sure she would’ve just been on edge the entire time we were here.  Frightened animals can lash out and will do anything to get away if they have the chance.”  Bill reached up and touched a fresh mark on his left temple that Dipper hadn’t noticed before.

  
“Oh man, what happened to your face Bill?” Dipper asked in concern, pointing to said mark.

  
“Just me being dumb and letting my guard down around a wild animal.  It took a swipe at me and it took me by surprise.”  The blond haired man gave a sheepish grin and shrugged.  Dipper was about to ask more questions, like what kind of wild animal and why was Bill so close to it, when Bill pushed Dipper forward.

  
“Come on kid, you were the one who was so super eager to go swimming.  Let’s get started then.”

  
“Right!”  Dipper started to make his way towards the water when he stopped and realized something.

  
“Uh, Bill,”

  
The older man sighed.  “What is it now Pine Tree?”

  
“Well, I don’t have my bathing suit with me.”

  
Bill just stared blankly at Dipper.

  
“Y’know, my bathing suit?  The clothes I wear to go swimming in?” Dipper spoke a tad slow, as if Bill was having a hard time understanding him.

  
Scowling, Bill spoke a bit sharply.  “I know what a bathing suit is Pine Tree, I just don’t understand why you’re so hung up about them.”

  
Dipper put his hands on his hips and glared up at the older man.  “Then what do you suggest we swim in?”

  
“Nothing.”

  
Immediately Dipper’s face burned bright red, all his annoyance and defensive barriers coming crashing down at the sudden image of Bill and him _skinny dipping_ of all things.

  
“What?!  No, we can’t do that!”  He squeaked, much to Bill’s endless amusement.

  
“Oh? And why not?”

  
“W-we just can’t!  Besides, what if someone sees us?”

  
“P.T., there is no one around for miles.  We are in the middle of the woods and the only living being we saw was a dumb deer that ran away as soon as we showed up.”

  
When Dipper continued to stutter and fiercely deny any chance of swimming nude, Bill just sighed and shrugged.

  
“Fine,” Bill rolled his visible eye.  “We won’t go nude okay?  We’ll still wear our shorts, how about that?”

  
Dipper was visibly relieved, which Bill thought was kinda cute.

  
“So can we go swimming now?”  He asked, tapping his foot and crossing his arms in a dramatic form of impatience.

  
“Sure, sure.”  Dipper rolled his eyes as he was getting used to Bill’s dramatic “give-me-attention” attitude.

  
“Finally.  Oh! Also, I can’t get my bandage wet so no splashing me in the face or dunking me or anything.”  Bill said as he casually took off his vest, folding it neatly and setting it on a rock to rest.  After the vest came his dress shirt and he kicked off his shoes while pulling the shirt off.  After folding the shirt just as nicely as the vest, Bill unbuttoned his pants and pulled them down and stepped out of them.  The last article of clothing, Bill’s socks, were pulled off his feet and joined the pile of clothes on the top.  Bill stood there in nothing but black boxers and grinned at Dipper.

  
“Well, I’ll meet ya the water Pine Tree!  Don’t be a slowpoke and join me quickly!”

  
Without another word, Bill turned and waded into the water until it was waist deep before turning onto his back and back stroking away.  The man waved and gave an impish grin as he drifted towards the middle of the spring.  Dipper, still standing where Bill had left him, was stiff as a board.  The moment Bill had begun undressing in front of him, Dipper couldn’t move.

Why was he so embarrassed by this?  It wasn’t like he hadn’t seen other guys in nothing but their boxers before.  His dad for one, and Grunkle Stan for the other.  Heck, Stan was almost always in his wife beater and boxers the moment they closed up the shop.  So why was this so different?  Was it because he was a new friend or something?  Dipper let out a deep sigh and forced himself to calm down, if even just a bit, and slowly pulled off his own clothes.

  
Taking off his hat, his shirt, his shoes and socks off, Dipper opted to leave the shorts on.  Even swimming in just his boxers like Bill seemed much too nerve wracking for him.  The red shorts gave him a bit of comfort and privacy that he needed to truly relax.

Making his way towards the water and stepping over the rocks, Dipper stepped into the wet ground and his foot slid a bit, making Dipper sway a bit to catch himself.  The feeling of mud under his foot and the loss of momentary control made such a strong feeling of déjà vu hit Dipper it gave him a bit of a head rush.

The smell of water, the feeling of mud under his feet.  Falling into the water and something grabbing him…A very nervous, almost fearful, feeling filled Dipper at the moment and he knew that he had forgotten something important.  He stared at the water and shivered.

  
“Pine Tree?”

  
Dipper yelped and was broken out of his trance.

  
“B-Bill?”

  
The nearly naked man stood at the edge of the water, looking at Dipper with concern.

  
“What’s wrong?”

  
“N-nothing is wrong!”  Dipper denied quickly.  At Bill’s raised eyebrow, he knew that it was nowhere near convincing.  Instead of demanding answers, Bill just crossed his bare arms and waited.

  
“Well…Do you ever get those feelings of déjà vu?  Almost like something is incredibly familiar and it just, I dunno, scares you?”  Rubbing his arm and feeling a bit foolish, Dipper looked away from the water and at his older friend, hoping for an answer.

  
“Sure, everyone does from time to time don’t they?  It’s perfectly normal.” Bill shrugged a little.

  
“Really?  To be scared even?”  Dipper’s mood began to pick up.

  
“Of course.  Now, are you still feeling uneasy?”

  
Dipper gnawed on his bottom lip a bit.  The young boy tried to gauge his feelings, something that was always more difficult for himself then it was for his twin, but found that he didn’t seem as scared or nervous about the sense of déjà vu anymore.  It didn’t seem like it was gone though, but more like it was more muted or muffled.  Either way though, it was easier to ignore now.

  
“I don’t think so?  At least, it’s not there so much anymore?”  Dipper shrugged.

  
“Well, since you’re done with that, I think you should come swimming now.”  Bill took some steps backwards before kicking off and floating in the water.

  
Not feeling the crippling feelings from before, Dipper took a few steps forward and stepped into the water.  The water was so cool compared to the hot and stifling weather that it made the boy shiver and hesitate to even walk further in.

  
“ _Come on_ Pine Tree!  I thought you wanted to go swimming?  Am I really going to be the only one to swim?”  Even though he was so far away and he was facing away from him, Dipper just knew that Bill was pouting.

  
Taking a deep breath and readying himself, Dipper dove the rest in and sinking into the water.  The cold water covered him and for once the entire day, Dipper felt the summer unrelenting heat finally leave him.  He finally came up after a few moments of just enjoying the sounds of water underneath the surface, and took a deep breath.  A little bit a ways he found Bill watching with a grin.

  
“Having fun P.T.?”

  
“Yeah!”  Dipper nodded and started to swim around the area of the spring.  “I’m glad you showed me this spot, Bill!  It’s amazing here.”

  
“I’m glad you like it.”  Bill was suddenly next to Dipper, making the boy kick back in surprise, nearly kicking the man in the face.  Bill gave the boy a sharp, mischievous, grin which Dipper gave a smack on the shoulder for in return.

  
“Stop that!”

  
The blond haired man snickered a bit.  “Well, you seem to be over your shyness.”

  
Dipper furrowed his brow.  “Shyness?  What are you talking about?”

  
“Your body shyness.  I mean, here we are together and you’re doing good!  You’re more mature then I thought P.T.!”  Bill motioned towards the small amount space between them.  “After all that squawking from you about swimming nude, and you’re practically naked and you’re fine!”  Bill backstroked away, snickering about Dipper’s now frozen face.

  
Bill had been correct; they were practically naked.  It wasn’t even that that got to Dipper, but it was the fact that they had been so close.  Bill’s pale and blemish free chest had been only inches away from Dipper’s own chest…Just the thought of that made Dipper’s face burn and his tongue well up and feel like it was in knots in his mouth.  A strange feeling in his stomach, much like moths or butterflies flying around, bewildered Dipper as well.  Sinking deeper into the water until only his eyes were eyes were above water, the young boy let out a mini scream of panic, causing bubbles to erupt to the surface.

  
“You okay over there kid?”  Bill called from the other side of the spring.

  
Dipper opened his mouth to speak but forgot his mouth was currently under the water so instead of talking, he ended up taking in water and choking on it.  Bringing his head up, Dipper coughed violently, getting the water out of his airway.

  
“I-I’m fine!”  He said once he was finally able to speak.

  
“If you’re sure…” Bill turned away, going back to floating on his back and Dipper was grateful that he wasn’t looking at him anymore.

  
Embarrassment flooded Dipper and he tried to swim it off.  That didn’t help much as since the spring was really only big enough for two people, they kept bumping into each other and apologizing.  Well, it was more like Dipper would bump into Bill, spazz out and apologize while Bill would just grin, tease him a bit, and keep swimming idly.  After a while, Dipper began to calm down and he would even begin push Bill on purpose.  Bill would squint at him playfully and Dipper would give him a mischievous little grin.

Bill seemed content to ignore Dipper though so the young boy kept poking him with his foot as he floated by, or even kicking water a bit at him.  He was just about to do so again when just as his foot was reaching out, Bill’s hand shot out and grabbed his ankle and pulled him forward.  Letting out a shout, Dipper was unprepared for Bill’s gruesome torture: tickling.

  
Shrieking with laughter and trying to get away, Dipper splashed and kicked water until they were both soaked and tired.  They both swam to a large flat rock near the middle of the spring and Dipper sat upon it while Bill rested against it.

  
“Sorry Bill.”  Dipper said after catching his breath.

  
“For what?” Tilting his head in confusion, Bill looked up at Dipper from where his head was resting on the smooth rock.

  
“For getting your face and head wet when you asked me not to.”  Reaching forward, the boy ran his fingers through Bill’s wet hair, something that seemed to surprise both of them.  “O-Oh, sorry.”

  
The man shrugged and grinned.  “It’s fine.  Besides, it felt nice.”  Closing his eyes, Bill continued to just drift there and Dipper sat there feeling at a loss of words.  Slowly, after a little bit of time had passed; Dipper gently touched the top of Bill’s head.  Dipper’s fingers carded through blond hair, pushing the wet mop all around.  The man hummed in enjoyment and for a while, that was all they did.

  
Dipper thought to himself that it was as if they were alone in the world, just the two of them.  The peacefulness of the sounds of nature all around them and just feeling so happy and content being here with Bill…It made Dipper feel at peace with himself.  He had never felt this way with someone before, not Wendy, not his parents, not even Mabel.  It felt as if nothing could ruin this.

  
But then his stomach growled loudly, making both Dipper and Bill jump.  They stared at each other with wide eyes (or eye for Bill), before they erupted with laughter.  Bill slid off the rock and while still giggling, held a hand out to Dipper.

  
“Come on Pine Tree, let’s have a food break.”

  
Still giggling a bit, Dipper stood on the rock, and still feeling playful, jumped at Bill.  The man’s eye widened slightly before he reached out with both arms and caught Dipper.  The force dunked them under the water slightly but when they came up they were both laughing.  Bill was holding Dipper up by around the waist, both his arms wrapped around him, and Dipper’s hands were resting on Bill’s shoulders.  When the blond haired man started to swim backwards, Dipper realized just how close they were to each other.  He froze again, which in all honestly made it a bit difficult for Bill to swim with as he was essentially a rock at the moment.

Walking out of the water, Bill set Dipper down on his feet and raised a hand and ruffled the kid’s hair, spraying water everywhere.

  
“Come on and grab your clothes kid and we’ll drive back to my house for lunch.”  Bill made his own way to his clothes, grabbing them and making his way towards his truck.  Dipper hurriedly followed, doing his best to shove his shoes on and throwing his hat on his head as he cradled his clothes in his elbow.

  
“Shouldn’t we dry off a bit more?  We’re way too soaked to just get in your car.”

  
But Bill just shrugged, not even bothering to put on his clothes and just instead throwing them into the bed of the truck.  Dipper, on the other hand, wrung the water out of his shorts as much as possible without actually taking them off and pulled his shirt on.  His still wet body made the shirt cling to him a bit uncomfortably, but he just dealt with it as he opened the car door and got inside.

The seat was warm but his still wet pants took away most of the bite of the heat.  The drive back to Bill’s house was quick as he lived right down the way and they traveled in silence together.  The truck pulled up the driveway and the two hopped out.  Dipper waited as Bill reached into the bed of the truck, scooped up his clothes, and made their way to the front door.  The blond haired man unlocked and opened it easily.  He walked in and Dipper followed in, feeling strangely comfortable in Bill’s home already.

  
“Go ahead and grab something to eat Pine Tree,” Bill said as he made his way towards the stairs. “You know where everything is since you helped put it away.  I’m gonna go change real quick.  Try not to burn my house down, okay?”

  
“Okay!”

  
Dipper watched as Bill walked up the stairs and out of view before making his way into the kitchen.  Not wanting to make too much of a mess, he settled for a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and made two; one for him, one for Bill.  He put them both on paper plates and figuring that he was dry enough, went and sat on the couch in the living room and settled into his sandwich as he waited for Bill.

  
Time went by and Bill still didn’t come down.  It was nearly a half hour and Dipper had devoured Bill’s sandwich and had turned on the TV while waiting.  Another ten minutes after that,  Dipper was starting to wonder if the man had slipped and knocked himself out or something when he heard the sound of footsteps above him.  Twisting around on the couch to look over the back of it, Dipper watches as Bill comes back down stairs.

  
“I was starting to think you fell and hurt yourself.” He said with a grin.  “I was wondering if I was gonna have to call life alert for you.”

  
“Ha, ha, ha.”  Bill rolled his eyes as he made his way closer.  “It took me so long because I had to find clothes that actually fit me and I had to put on a new bandage over my eye; the other one got all soggy and gross.”

  
Dipper immediately lost his grin.  “I’m sorry about that.”

  
The man sighed exaggeratedly.  “How many times are you going to apologize?  It’s fine!”  Bill walked around the couch and flopped down to Dipper’s left; giving the boy time to take in his older friend’s new clothes.

What Bill was wearing was nothing like the usual clothes that Dipper would deem ‘fancy’, but instead, they seemed incredibly chill in a lazy sort of way.  He wore a big flannel shirt that he almost seemed swimming in, but it seemed incredibly comfortable nevertheless.  For pants he wore brown khakis and on his feet he wore just simple white socks.  It was so strange to see him dressed so casually that it actually took Dipper a few moments to process that Bill was still talking to him.

  
“So?”

  
“Uh, what?”

  
Bill gave Dipper an unimpressed stare.

  
“I asked if you had gotten anything to eat yet.  I swear, where does that mind of yours go sometimes?  It’s like you just turn it off and go on lunch break or something.”

  
“Yes, I ate!”  Dipper ignored Bill’s snickering at his own joke.  “And I made you a sandwich too…but you kinda took a while so I ate that too.”

  
Shrugging, Bill reached over and snatched the remote from Dipper with lighting speed, much to the kid’s displeasure.

  
“That’s okay by me, I’m not hungry anyway.  Did you get enough though?”  Bill put his feet up on the coffee table and changed the channels until he came across one that was playing some sort of movie that looked interesting.

  
“Yeah.”

  
Bill put his arm over Dipper’s shoulder and used his other hand to cradle his face as he put his elbow on the arm of the couch.  Since Bill was leaning onto his hand, he ended up pulling Dipper with him and making the boy lean against him.  Dipper’s cheeks burned and that strange feeling of fluttery creatures in his stomach returned, along with Bill’s strange furnace like warmth.

  
It didn’t bother him like before though, as swimming in the spring had seemingly cooled him down immensely, even though it was still hot outside.  Dipper tried to keep his attention on the movie in front of him, but it got more and more blurry with each time he blinked.  Until finally, Dipper closed his eyes and fell asleep.

 

  
He woke up later and the first thing he felt was that someone was touching him.  Usually the thought of someone touching him and Dipper not knowing who would wig him out, but the touches were warm and gentle and in his mind, those two things somehow connected to lead to Bill.  Although Dipper was waking up, he didn’t bother opening his eyes and instead just continued to breathe slowly and let the gentle caresses continue.

  
Dipper knew that he wasn’t wearing his hat anymore, just as he had slept with his hat on enough times to know when it was on and when it was off, along with the fact that fingers were carding through his hair gently, briefly swiping over Dipper’s birthmark.  Face scrunching up, the boy wished the hand would stop touching his forehead as he hated it when people touched or made a big deal about his birthmark.  As if the person could read his mind, the touching on his forehead stopped and the fingers moved back to his hair.  It was a soothing feeling and Dipper let out a deep sigh of relaxation.  The finger stopped suddenly and Dipper waited for them to continue but the only thing he got was a flick in the forehead instead.

  
“Ow!” Dipper opened his eyes and found Bill looking down at him with a grin.  Dipper just stared with muddled thoughts until Bill raised his fingers again to flick Dipper again did the kid sit up.

  
“Why did you do that for?” The brunet groused with a sleep thick voice.

  
“Because I was starting to lose feeling in my legs from your head in my lap for so long.  Plus, it’s getting late and I should probably take you home soon.”

  
“I-I was what?!  Why didn’t you wake me?”  Dipper flustered but Bill just shrugged.

  
“You looked like you were tired so I didn’t want to wake you.”

  
Bill got up and stretched, causing several loud pops that made him sigh with bliss and Dipper shutter with disgust.

  
“Come on kid, let’s get you home.”

  
Before Dipper even knew it, they were in the car and Bill was driving down the dirt road from his house towards town.  Dipper kept trying to wipe the sleep from his eyes and to wake up, but both seemed an impossible task.

  
“H-How long was I out for?” Dipper yawned before looking at Bill in concern.  “I wasn’t too heavy or anything was I?”

  
He still couldn’t believe that he had fallen asleep on Bill and had even had his head in his lap.  What if he had talked in his sleep or smacked him or something other equally embarrassing?

  
“Nah, you were fine kid…Though there was one thing.”  Bill suddenly looked so serious as he gripped the wheel tightly as he made a turn in town towards the road right before the turn on the road for the Mystery Shack.

  
Dipper could feel his heart beating rapidly with dread and anxiety.

  
“W-what? What was it?”

  
Bill came to a screeching stop right at the start of the road before The Mystery Shack and looked at Dipper.

  
“When is the last time you’ve taken a shower?”

  
Feeling thrown for a loop, Dipper just blinked at him.

  
“What?”

  
“When has been the last time you’ve cleansed yourself of the filth on your body?”

  
“Um, last week I think.  Why what is-?”  Dipper didn’t have a chance to finish as Bill screeched loudly and pointed at the boy, making the brunet scramble backwards until his back hit the door.

  
“Shower!  You need to take a shower now!”  Bill absolutely demanded.

  
“Why are you freaking out-”

  
“Bathe you filthy child!  That is absolutely deplorable! I can’t believe I’m going to have to burn these clothes now because you’ve touched them with your uncleanliness.”

“That’s just mean.” Dipper scowled and Bill rolled his eye and shrugged.

  
“Well, it’s true.  But, no really, please take a shower.  Don’t make me smell you tomorrow to see if you actually took a shower or not!”

  
Dipper groaned, even as his heart leaped at the confirmation that they were spending tomorrow together as well.

  
“Why do I need to take a shower?  I’m just going to get dirty again and I can spend valuable time doing other stuff instead.”

  
“Dipper, I swear, if you don’t take a shower I will get a vat of holy water and dump you in there and with that, we will burn the dirt off your body.”  Bill spoke with such a serious tone that the boy actually shivered at that and not just the fact that Bill had actually said his name.

  
“Fine!”  Dipper said, unbuckling himself and stepping out of the car.  “I’ll take a shower; happy now?”

  
“Relieved beyond words.”  Bill answered back dryly.  “Well, see you tomorrow Pine Tree!”

  
With Dipper closing the door and beginning to move up the path, Bill banged a sharp U-turn and waved goodbye to Dipper as he passed.  Now alone, Dipper walked up the long path towards home.

  
Even though the sun had yet to set fully, he was surprised to find that he was the only one home.  He unlocked the door with the spare key Grunkle Stan had hidden under a nearby rock and let himself into the house.  Walking into the kitchen, he found a hastily written note with Mabel’s handwriting on the fridge under several silly magnets.  Reading it found that Mabel, Stan and Soos were going to the local pool and that they’d be back later and where had he gone?  Also, it mentioned not to drink all the Mabel juice while they were gone and Dipper just shuttered at the thought.  Who in their right mind would actually drink Mabel juice?  Oh right, Mabel.

  
Sighing to himself, Dipper headed upstairs and into the attic.  Waddles lifted his head from Mabel’s bed and oinked at him a bit before falling back to sleep. Dipper was about to hit the hay himself, he was still feeling exhausted, when he remembered that he promised Bill that he would shower.  Groaning loudly to himself but doing so anyway, Dipper grabbed some spare pajamas which consisted of one of his regular shirts and just some comfy shorts before heading downstairs and into the bathroom to take his shower.

  
About ten to fifteen minutes later, he was walking out of the bathroom in his pajamas; clean for probably the first time that week when he heard shouting from downstairs.  Recognizing his sister’s voice, Dipper made his way downstairs.

In the living room Stan was in his chair, attempting to watch TV but Mabel’s obvious distressful pacing and ranting was distracting him.

  
“What’s going on?”

  
“There you are kid!” Stan turned to him with only the barest interest.  “Where have you been all day?”

  
Dipper was about to tell them that he was with a friend, but Mabel cut him off.

  
“No time for that; Dipper!  The most horrible thing happened today: I met my dream boy!”

  
“Uhh, I’m sorry?”  Dipper looked to Stan, hoping for an answer but the old man just shrugged and rolled his eyes before looking back at the TV.

  
“No, no, nooo!  It’s good!  But the bad thing was old man McGucket!” His twin sister groaned loudly as pulled at her face a bit.  “And then pool jail, and then breaking out, and we got kicked out!!”  Mabel wailed the last part, making both males in the room wince.

  
“Mabel, I have no idea what you’re trying to tell me here.”

  
“The boy, his name is Mermando, and he’s a mermaid!  He’s stuck in the pool and he’s amazing!  But the crazy pool guy, Mr. Poolcheck, put Old Man McGucket as the life guard and McGucket kept making up all these crazy rule like boys have to be on one side of the pool and girls the other or if you are running, you have to stop and do a hoedown or even that you have to wait fifteen minutes after you eat to swim!  He was crazy!”

  
“So your sister broke all those rules and ended up getting put into pool jail, which, lemme tell you is nowhere near as bad as the real thing but still as strict as they are, and she ended up breaking us out.”  A proud smile was on Stan’s face as he said that, which Mabel returned.

  
“Why were you in pool jail?”  Dipper asked, raising an eyebrow.

  
“Gideon.”  Was all that Stan all but hissed, his expression turning dark.

  
“Oookay.  Well, I’m going to bed.  Goodnight.”  Dipper yawned and walked out of the room and upstairs.

  
He heard them both say goodnight to him, and then Mabel going back to ranting to Stan, who seemingly groaned in agony at that, before making his way into their attic room.  Flopping down onto his bed, Dipper was asleep almost instantly.

  
**XxXxXxXx**

  
  
Something woke him in the middle of the night.  Slowly opening his eyes, Dipper scanned the room and found Mabel, fully dressed, walking out of their room and closing their door.  His mind still too sleep addled to comprehend what that meant, Dipper put his head back down on his pillow and went to sleep.

  
**XxXxXxXx**

**  
** When Dipper woke up next, he felt an instant good mood from a good night’s rest.  He got out of bed with a spring in his step and got dressed in the clothes he wore the other day.  He had a feeling that today was going to be a good day.  Looking over at his still sleeping sister, he saw she had a smile on her face as she slept and wondered if she was having good dreams.  Smiling a bit himself, Dipper headed downstairs.

  
The boy paused halfway down the stairs though, as there was an unusual sight at the door.  Stan was standing there talking to Manly Dan and they both had serious expressions on their faces.  Hesitating on one step, the young boy caused the step to creak, getting both men’s attention.

  
“Dipper, go get your sister and come down here.”

  
“What’s going on?”  That good feeling that had filled him not even a minute ago was gone and a sense of dread filled it instead.

  
“Go get your sister first.”  Stan seemed tired almost; he wasn’t bothering to sound gruff with him either.  Something was definitely wrong.

  
Running back upstairs and into his shared room with his sister, he immediately went over to her and began shaking her.

  
“Nooo, l’ef me alooone”  She slurred, half asleep.

  
“Mabel wake up, Grunkle Stan has to talk to us about something, and I think it’s important.”  He tried shaking her again but all he got in return is a mouthful of her hair when she rolled away from him.

  
Coughing out the hair and wrinkling his nose, Dipper looked at his sister in confusion.

  
“Why do you still smell so strongly like chlorine?”  Usually Mabel was much better at bathing then he was, and taking showers before bed was one of her favorite things.

  
“KIDS!”  Grunkle Stan yelled from downstairs and Mabel shot up, nearly hitting heads with her brother.

  
“Coming!”  She called sleepily before getting out of bed and pushing past Dipper towards the door.  Dipper rolled his eyes but followed her anyway.

  
Once down stairs, the two stood in front of the two adults and even Mabel was completely awake by the nervous energy in the room.  The twins looked at each other with questions in their eyes and turned to their Grunkle Stan for answers.  The man took a deep breath before speaking.

  
“Alright, we’re gonna ask you kids some questions and we want you to be as truthful as possible, got it?”  He spoke sternly and both kids nodded immediately, feeling that the situation was much too serious to joke or ask unnecessary questions, nodded.

  
“Have either of you seen Wendy in the last couple of days?” 

  
Mabel shook her head no but Dipper spoke up.

  
“I saw her three days ago, but only for a few minutes.”  Dipper fidgeted nervously.  “Is something wrong? Why are you looking for Wendy?”

  
“Where did you see her?”  Wendy’s father, Manly Dan, spoke and it was unnerving how somber his voice was.

  
“When I was in town, at the grocery store.  She was buying hot dogs and sausages I think.  Why?”  Dipper pressed, feeling that horrible sense of something was very wrong.

  
Mabel had turned to Dipper, most likely wanting to ask why Dipper had been at the grocery store, but knew that it wasn’t the time and closed her open mouth and turned back to Stan and Dan.

  
Stan looked at Dan’s crushed expression and sighed and turning back to the twins.  Kneeling down on one knee he put a hand on both of the kid’s shoulders.

  
“Look, I know you both were very close to Wendy, but it seems that two days ago she and Robbie ran off together.”

  
“No.”  Dipper whispered.  “W-why would she just leave?  It’s gotta be more then that!  W-what if they’re lost somewhere or hurt…Why would you think the two of them would just run off like that?” The boy put his face in his hands and tried to hold back the tears that were prickling his eyes.  He felt Mabel put an arm around him but he didn’t respond to it.

  
“Dipper, there were letters from both kids to their folks.  They said they were eloping or running away together, whatever you kids call it these days, but they’re gone and no one has heard from them since.  Not even their friends knew about this so we think that it was spontaneous idea of theirs.”

  
“B-but, she wouldn’t…she wouldn’t just leave like that.” Dipper looked up at Stan and then Dan.  “Right?”

  
Dan sighed sadly; looking the most depressed the twins have ever seen him.

  
“I guess,” Dan muttered as he started to turn for the door.  “She’s more like her mother then I ever realized.”

  
Dipper and Mabel didn’t understand what that meant, though they knew it must have to do with the fact that Wendy’s mother was never around and never mentioned at all.  Stan obviously knew what he meant as in a rare show of compassion; Stan reached out and squeezed Dan’s shoulder.  He turned to the twins once more.

  
“Are you sure neither of you heard Wendy mention anything about this?  Maybe say where she would go if she could?”

  
Dipper shook his head but Mabel paused momentarily, thinking.

  
“Well, she said she always wanted to go to Portland, but…” Mabel shrugged, not knowing what to say.

  
The father nodded in thanks, but it looked as if it did no comfort whatsoever.  Manly Dan thanked Stan and left as he headed for his truck.  Stan closed the door and sighed deeply as he did so.  Turning to the kids, he wasn’t surprised in the slightest to see the shell shocked expression on Mabel’s face, or the completely devastated one on Dipper’s.

  
“I’m sorry kids.  I know you two were friends with her and to hear this is difficult, but we’ll just have to hope for the best.”

  
“Yeah,” Mabel nodded, forcing herself to be upbeat.  “I’m sure, where ever Wendy is; she’s having a fun time with Robbie!”

  
Stan and Mabel looked at Dipper, but the boy said nothing.  His sister squeezed his arm, but he ended up pulling away and walking towards the door.

  
“Where are you going?”  She asked.

  
“I..I just wanna get away from here for a bit.”  Dipper mumbled, blinking hastily and squeezing his eyes shut before reaching for the door.

  
“Oh!  I’ll come with you!  Hold on, I’ll go get changed!”  Mabel, still in her pajamas, ran upstairs to quickly change, but Dipper didn’t bother to wait.

  
“Kid, aren’t you gonna wait for your sister?”  Stan asked, even though he could clearly see the answer was ‘no’.

  
Dipper said nothing, but just ran from the shack and headed for town.  He didn’t want to think about this, about Wendy leaving, of her _abandoning_ everyone for Robbie of all people. 

  
So he ran, and if tears started to fall, it was because of the wind whipping against his face and causing him to tear up.

  
**XxXxXxXx**

**  
** “So what’s wrong Pine Tree?  You’ve been quiet all day today.”

  
Bill swam over to the smooth rock near the middle of the spring that Dipper was sitting on and looked at him with concern.  Dipper blinked slowly at Bill and sighed.

  
“I found out some terrible news today.”  Pulling his knees up to his chest, Dipper hugged them close.  “You remember Wendy?”

  
“Ah, that girl you introduced me to the other day?  The red head?”

  
Dipper nodded.

  
“Well, her dad came by the shack this morning a-and said…said that she’s gone.”

  
“Gone?  Gone where?”

  
“Just gone!  That she and Robbie had left notes saying they were leaving together and that neither of them had been seen or heard from in two days.  I…Why would she do that?”  Dipper’s voice was raw with hurt.  “She was my friend and s-she had family and she just picks up and leaves everyone behind with no goodbyes or a-anything.”  Unable to stop himself, warm fat tears started to leak out and roll down his cheeks.  Dipper let out a sob.

  
“She was my friend.”

  
Dipper continued to fight his cries, trying to bottle them all in as she sat on the rock shaking.  Bill pulled himself onto the rock and while it was a tight fit for both of them to sit on it, it was manageable.  The blond haired man wrapped his arms around Dipper and hugged him close.

  
“Go ahead and cry Dipper, it’s okay.”  Bill put his cheek against the top of Dipper’s head and cradled the boy close. 

  
With that, Dipper broke down.  All the hurt, anger and confusion he felt left his body through his tears.  The boy had never cried like this before; he wanted to cry and scream at the same time and it was as if there was a horrible weight in his gut.  The extreme emotions he was feeling almost made him feel sick.  The crying continued for a long while until Dipper almost felt empty.  He could still feel things, but it was as if they were muted. Sniffling a bit, the boy hugged Bill tightly, who replied with a squeeze of his own.

  
“Thank you Bill.” Dipper’s voice came out in a raspy tone, throat sore from crying.  Pulling away a bit, the brunet looked up at Bill with a watery smile and red eyes.  “I’m glad that you’re here.”

  
“Of course I am.  I promise kid, I’m not going anywhere.”

  


The day passed seemingly quickly as the next thing Dipper actually comprehended, Bill was telling him that they should start to head back.  Dipper followed after Bill mindlessly, throwing on his clothes and making his way to Bill’s truck.  He stopped outside of it though and just stared at the ground.

  
“P.T.?”  Bill’s voice was a gentle and comforting beacon, pulling him back and leading him back to where he needed to be.

  
“Bill, why do you think she left?” 

  
The man sighed from the other side of the truck.

  
“Get in the truck kid and we’ll talk.”

  
Dipper opened the passenger side door and stepped into the truck, sitting down and automatically slipping the seatbelt over himself and clicking it shut.  He watched as Bill put the keys in the ignition, but did not actually start the car.

  
“Dipper,” At Bill’s serious tone and calling him by his actual name, he looked up from his feet and at the blond haired man.  “I’m going to say some things and you may not like them.  Hell, you might even be angry at me for saying them, but I’m going to honestly tell you what I think, okay?  Please try to listen.”

  
Bill looked at Dipper for confirmation, which Dipper did with a hesitant nod.  Taking a deep breath, Bill started.

  
“I think your friend Wendy is selfish; let me explain!”  Bill raised a hand when he saw Dipper start to open his mouth to defend her instantly.  “I think she’s selfish, because she had family, friends, a job, and even school in the future but she gave all that up for the sake of a summer fling.”

  
Reaching over, Bill gently took Dipper’s hand and held the boy’s much smaller one in his larger one, stroking the back of the hand with his thumb.

  
“She hurt a lot of people, but most importantly, she hurt you.  I don’t think I can ever forgive her for hurting you so much.  It makes me hurt seeing you in so much pain that all I want to do is find a way to protect you.”

  
Dipper felt his eyes water again, this time from feeling so absolutely touched it made him tremble a little bit.

  
“Thank…Thank you Bill.”  He finally managed to get out, smiling sincerely.

  
Bill gave Dipper a smile that made his heart quiver and he felt relieved when Bill turned his attention off of him and onto starting the car and driving Dipper home.  Sometimes, Dipper realized to himself as he looked out the window at the darkening sky, Bill really made him nervous.  It was a strange nervous though, like instead of wanting to get away from what was making him nervous, he actually wanted to be around Bill more instead.

  
Dipper was shaken out of his thoughts when the truck came to a slowed stop.  Looking up, he could see that he was right at where Bill usually dropped him off.  Unbuckling himself, Dipper got ready to get out.

  
“Thanks Bill, for everything.  See you later?”

  
“Pine Tree, wait!”

  
Dipper, who had just been about to open and slide out the door, turned in confusion to see what Bill wanted.  What he found though, was Bill’s face inches from his own.  The preteen boy felt his heart stop for a moment and became stiller then a statue.  Bill’s hand rested on his cheek, pulling him a bit closer and instinctively, Dipper’s eyes landed on Bill’s lips.  He could feel his hands starting to sweat and shake, but was still unable to move other than that.  And then Bill’s hand moved up and he touched the front of his hat before pulling away.

  
“There we go!  You got some leaves caught on your hat and it was bothering me.”  Bill nodded, seeming proud of himself.  “So, I’ll see ya later P.T.  Have a good night and try not to dwell on the bad, alright?”

  
“O-Okay.” Dipper’s voice shook as he nodded to Bill as he stepped out of the truck.  “Bye.”

  
The entire time he watched Bill drive away, that he walked up the path towards the Mystery Shack and let himself in, Dipper’s heads were sweating and he shook like he had just run a mile.  His heart was beating rapidly and blood was pumping into his cheeks.  In his daze, Dipper didn’t even realize that neither Stan nor Mabel were there.  He just went to his and Mabel’s room and after changing out of his clothes, crawled into bed and tried to sleep.

  
That night he spent most of the night thinking of Bill before crashing from exhaustion.

  
  
**XxXxXxXx**

**  
** “-And it was great Dipper!  I managed to save Mermando and he gave me something in return!  Guess what it was, guess bro-bro!”

  
Dipper, who was currently feeling very sleep deprived, shoveled another spoonful of cereal into his mouth at a snail’s pace.  He idly wondered where Stan was and why he didn’t have to deal with a hyper Mabel Pines first thing in the morning.  Blinking tiredly and looking at his sister, he found her staring at him with a huge grin and wide eyes, just waiting.

  
“What was it?”  He asked when he swallowed his spoonful.  He scooped up another spoonful and shoveled it into his mouth.

  
“A KISS!”  His sister positively squealed as she got up from her chair and began jumping around the kitchen with absolute glee.  “I got my first kiss!  I even got to do the leg thing they do in movies!”

  
Dipper watched his sister dance around a bit more before she finally lost energy and sat down, panting but still grinning happily.

  
“You’ve had Mabel juice this morning haven’t you?”  He asked with a grin; hey, what could he say?  His sister’s good mood was infectious.

  
“No!  Well, maybe a little.  But you just wouldn’t understand Dipper; you haven’t had your first kiss yet.”

  
Dipper rolled his eyes as he took another bite of cereal.  What was so big about kissing?  He tried to imagine who he would even kiss anyway.  Wendy immediately popped into his head, but he quickly shoved her image out of his mind.  The pain of her abandonment was much too fresh to even think of her.  But then, another person idly came to his mind, causing him to choke on his cereal.

  
Bill Cipher.  He just thought about kissing Bill Cipher.

  
Even as he continued to choke on his breakfast and Mabel panicking and doing the Heimlich maneuver on him, the realization that he had a crush on his much older friend Bill Cipher had finally hit him.  After he had finally stopped choking and was breathing heavily, only two words crossed his mind that summed up the entire situation for him:

  
‘Oh crap.’

  
**TBC**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HI GUYS! Long time no see! I'm so, so sorry about that! But several things happened during these months between updates and I KNOW this will be a lot, but I'm asking you to PLEASE READ my notes, please and thank you.
> 
> First and foremost: I am NOT giving up on this fic. Guys, even if it takes me months to update, I won't give up on this fic unless something really big happens. So please don't think I will give up on it. I will take gentle encouragement for writing, but please don't demand a new chapter from me as that makes me want to do the exact opposite.
> 
> Second: I've decided I'm doing a three strike system for this fic. For most of you guys probably don't know, but over the course of the past couple of months, Wonderland was plagiarized and put on another site under a different name but everything else was the same. I was very hurt and upset by this and I ask people that if this should ever happen again, to please tell me so I can confront the person myself. But what I'm saying most of all is if something like this happens two more times, I'm taking Wonderland down and will not post it elsewhere. I really don't want to do this, but this will be a final scenario kind of deal.
> 
> Third: As of right now, I'm not sure or not if I want to take a small break from working on this. I've talked to my friends about it and about how stressed I've gotten from worrying about this fic at times and part of me wants to just take a break and sleep until the new episode of Gravity Falls and maybe work on other things (like my Only Child AU, lol). Also between me working and other personal stuff going on, I'm still up in the air about it tbh, so we'll see where it goes.
> 
> Fourth: Thank you to everyone who has drawn fanart, read this and has sent me so many nice messages about enjoying this fic. I never imagined I'd get this kind of response when I started this silly fic spontaneously a while ago and it's made me cry from feeling touched many times. ;w; Thank you all so much.
> 
>  
> 
> Sorry for talking so much, but thank you for reading!! I hope you enjoyed this chapter!! :3


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